


red faucet, free flowing

by alexodian



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, F/F, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Haku (Naruto) Lives, Konoha is... not very nice, Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship, M/M, Multi, Ninja Politics, Orochimaru is His? Own Warning, Other, Over-use of italics, POV Alternating, Sign Language, Slow Burn, Team (7) Bonding, Uzumaki Clan Lorebuilding, Zabuza Lives, and you follow it, changed the rating to explicit but not for fun reasons, dubious morality and ethics systems?, eventually, role reversal? sort of?, tfw ur belly god gives objectively bad advice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-03-02 14:44:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18813052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexodian/pseuds/alexodian
Summary: BOY.It was faint, the voice, and Naruto shut his eyes, tried to listen for more.LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU.Naruto did, and the world seemed to fall away. When it came again, the voice had a sharp clarity to it, and it felt as if it was at his ear, echoing through and around him.YOU CANNOT DIE, RUNT. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT. FOLLOW MY VOICE.He opened his eyes, and Sasuke was no longer at his knees. The ground beneath him was smooth and damp, like the streets of Konoha the day after it rains, but the room he was inside of felt endless in a way the village did not.Naruto got up and took a step towards the bars in front of him, felt a puff of humid air hit his face. He held his breath.YOU MUST HARNESS YOUR HATE, FOR THAT IS MY ESSENCE.The bars shook with the voice, and Naruto listened, unable to do anything else.[In which Naruto and Kurama become aquainted during the Wave Mission, this time on the Bijuu's terms.]





	1. rusty pipes

**Author's Note:**

> hi! im starting off real ambitious with this one lol whoops
> 
> fyi while this mainly canon divergence there are a good number of aspects that are tweaked around because I think they work better that way!
> 
> kudos and comments literally add to my life force :) if you want me to add any specific warnings/tags/etc, just add a comment and i'll get on that asap.
> 
> obligatory "I don't own Naruto" blah blah blah I hope y'all enjoy! <3

Weeks ago, when Naruto went through one of his many death-defying moments, he had heard a voice.

He had been surrounded by mirrors of ice, mostly because he was _stupid_ and _rash_ and _now I’m going to die_ , he thought, looking at the flashes of too many Hakus and needles rushing around—no, _at_ —him. Sasuke had told him he should have stayed out, and Naruto figured that this was what happens to Shinobi that should have never graduated. They die on their first _real_ mission after they make a mistake as stupid as trapping himself right where the enemy wants him.

He was bleeding. The needles in his leg made his muscles cramp and lock, but he guessed it wouldn’t matter in a moment anyway because there were way too many ( _senbon_ , his mind supplied, as if he had all the time in the world to worry about what the metal flying at him was _properly_ named) to count aimed straight at him. He was too late to dodge, and the arms he brought to shield himself might not _work_ after they took this, he thought—

He’d die after, anyways, he couldn’t cover enough of his body, and he braced himself—

For nothing. When he opened his eyes he found Sasuke standing in front of him, looking all of a terrible, sacrificial porcupine. Naruto wanted to laugh at the thought, but when he opened his mouth he instead let out a broken, “ _Why_ _!_ ” because, damn it, Sasuke couldn’t die on him. Not like _this_.

They had just became something of _friends_ , and now—now he loses this little thing he has? The only possession he _earned_ , other than his headband? One of the few he’s ever had?

Sasuke coughed up dots of red onto the grey beneath their feet as he fell to his knees and said, “I don’t know why— I just _did_.” Time seemed to slow, as they stood there. Three boys, one dying, one killing, and one—useless.

And, “Bastard, that’s not a reason—”

Sasuke turned, eyes _red_ (why were they red?) and face full of pain like the rest of him, and said, “I hated you,” and then, as he slumped down, “I promised myself, I’d stay alive, until—”

Until he coughed up more _red_ , apparently. Too much red. Naruto followed him down, knelt next to him as he wondered why he wasn’t dead yet, why Haku hadn’t thrown another needle to finish the job. Then again, there were already so many in Sasuke that Naruto gave up on finding a place to put his hand, to try and give some small comfort.

“Hey, don’t push yourself," he remembered saying. "Just— we can…” He didn’t know where he was going with that.

Somewhere hopeful, maybe.

Sasuke spoke in quieter tones when he said, “Don’t let your dream die, even if you’ll never reach it... loser.” 

Naruto wanted to spit something back, tell him that he _couldn’t die, either_ , but then Sasuke fell to the ground, too limp and too quiet, and Naruto's words caught in his throat. The mantra of _precious_ and _sacrifice_ and _why why why_ ran through his mind, hands fisting into his pants with white knuckles. What was he supposed to do, now? How was he supposed to do anything?

Haku had chimed in, then, as if in response, and said something about how Sasuke was _noble_ for dying like that, with his sacrificial strength, but Naruto wasn’t focusing on him. He heard another voice, deep and heavy inside his gut, that told him,

 

 

 

**BOY.**

 

 

It was faint, and Naruto focused on it instead of Haku. He shut his eyes, tried to listen for more.  _Where was it coming from?_ He couldn't understand.

 

 

**LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU.**

  

Naruto did, and the world seemed to fall away. When it came again, the voice had a sharp clarity to it, and it felt as if it was at his ear, echoing through and around him.

 

 **YOU CANNOT DIE, RUNT.**   **I WILL NOT ALLOW IT.** **FOLLOW MY VOICE.**

 

He opened his eyes, and Sasuke was no longer at his knees—the world was no longer there, really. The ground beneath him was smooth and damp, like the streets of Konoha the day after it rains, but the room he was inside of felt endless in a way the village did not.

Naruto got up and took a step towards the bars in front of him, felt a puff of humid air hit his face. He held his breath.

 

 **YOU MUST HARNESS YOUR** **_HATE_** **, FOR THAT IS MY ESSENCE.**  

 

The bars shook with the voice, and Naruto listened, unable to do anything else.

He felt the hate—hate for Haku for having _said_ that, that it was _noble_ as if things like nobility mattered when Sasuke was _dead_ at his feet. He _killed_ Sasuke and tried to explain how _precious_ he must have considered Naruto—

He felt hate for Sasuke, too. For his _sacrifice_ , like he didn’t have dreams _too_ , like Naruto was worth anything more than Sasuke was, like people didn’t know Sasuke was the smartest kid in their year and Naruto was _dead last_. Like Naruto didn’t deserve to die for having got himself in that mess, instead of them both out of it—

And there was that hate for himself, for being so weak. So stupid. He remembered, in flashes, being humiliated in the village, at school, as if the memories were being drug out of him. Hated himself for always coming up short. Always reaching for the _best_ when everyone saw him as  _dirt_ , and now Sasuke was gone and it was his fault.

He hated himself for the sting of his eyes as he added to the moisture of the floor ( _wet, now_ , he thought, distantly, _and_ _rising_ ) as he cried and cried and cried. His skin stung, too, inside and out.

 

 **I WILL LEND YOU STRENGTH. YOU CANNOT** **_DIE_** **, LIKE YOUR** **_COMRADE_** **.**  

 

 _Comrade_. Kakashi had said something about that—something about _comrades_ and _trash_ that Naruto couldn’t remember, and all he could think was hate. He felt a heat and a power bubble from the water, then under his skin, and suddenly everything was sharper in sight and scent and touch and _feeling_. The needles running through him felt like _nothing_ compared to this—this _pain_.

His body felt on fire, and he felt **hate**.

 

**GO NOW, RUNT. PROVE YOUR WORTH.**

 

 

“—gains honor, in this death. Honor a shinobi deserves.” 

His eyes refocused on the bright lights of the bridge, blinking open at Sasuke’s fallen form before he turned to Haku. Naruto moved— _too_ fast, with a speed he had never known, the burn in his veins pushing him _harder, hit harder._ It was impossible for Haku to keep up—he moved to a mirror, but Naruto followed, punched clean through it and whipped around in time to grab Haku’s ankle and slam him into the rest of the ice, then the ground.

All Naruto could see was red.

Haku got up, rushed away to gain distance, but it was no use against Naruto, not now—his steps cracked cement, and his punches cracked bone.

It over too quick, like a flash, with Haku pressed against the ground with too much acceptance, and maybe a bit of fear. His face, so beautiful the last time they met, now held three deep gashes, ending with Naruto’s fingers, still embedded in his face.

(He still looked more beautiful than Sakura, in that moment. Maybe even more.)

He pushed down on his neck when his awareness turned to Sasuke—a noise, from his direction. His senses were heightened beyond belief, and he heard _something_ , but there was so much mist that he couldn’t tell what it was.

 _Could he be_ —

Just like that, the rage bled away, and his veins filled with _ice_ when he realized his fingers were covered in blood and under Haku’s skin. Where there had been rage a moment ago, Naruto felt hollowed out.

“I will not stop you. Avenge him. He was— more than _precious_ , to you, was he not? Look at what you achieved, with the strength that granted.”

Somehow, he didn’t want to kill Haku. _Sasuke_ was still fresh in his mind, but a small thread of hope began to form—Haku had faked deaths before, _maybe_ —and he _knew_ couldn't trust it, but he wanted to. Naruto didn’t want to kill him. Not yet.

“Do it.”

It was more difficult than it should have been, to pull back his hands, the one in his face and the one holding him down (around his neck, leaving a bruise, it would have been _easy_ to push _just_ enough—), but bright thought of his _dreams_ let him ease up. He wanted to be well known, and respected, and _Hokage_. His dreams did not include living up to the image his village currently had of him.

No, his dreams included proving everyone _wrong_.

“Why do you hesitate? _Avenge_ him. I could not—” he looked a bit frustrated, and Naruto wanted to laugh again, because what right does _he_ have to be _frustrated_ when Naruto has him pinned— “My strength _pales_ against yours. If I cannot kill you, not when ordered by _my_... I do not deserve the breaths you’ve granted me.”

He frowned, looking at Haku as he lay poised as ever and begging for his own death, red staining his cheek like a sick form of rouge. Naruto couldn’t do it, despite the fire churning inside him, small but present. He was no _killer_. Not like this, when Haku was wheezing from ribs he probably cracked, held under Naruto’s straddle with ease.

“You didn’t kill me,” Naruto said, realizing as he spoke what he was saying. “You could have—when you found me asleep, after training. You could have killed me, but you didn’t. Why?” 

Haku blinked, brows drawn together as his frown tugged at the gashes through his jaw, another thick bead of sluggish blood flowing at the movement.

“It was not necessary at the time. The bridge builder is who we were contracted to kill, not you.”

Naruto huffed. “And _we_ weren’t sent to kill _you_. Only protect the bridge builder.”

“We are a _threat_ to your mission—”

“So were _we_!”

“—And I _killed_ your teammate. _Why_ won’t you grant me the same mercy!”

“Is he _really_ , though?” Naruto’s voice was softer than he intended. “ _Dead?_ ”

Before he could get an answer, Naruto turned toward the sudden sound of—

Chirping?

It sounded like a flock of birds right behind him.

What the hell?

Haku was shoving at his thighs, and while Naruto had him pinned he couldn't help but loosen at the desperation written on Haku’s face. The mist had dispelled enough to see Kakashi-sensei’s hand, covered in a bright blue Naruto knew as chakra but _crackling_ in a way he didn’t _understand_ and then Kakashi jabbed it forward towards Zabuza, rooted in place by a pack of—ninken, Naruto guessed, _why_ did Kakashi have _ninken_ —and then Haku was there, and Kakashi’s hand went through him, and—

The _face_ he made made Naruto finally get to his feet. 

Except Kakashi's hand didn’t hit it’s mark, because a second later Haku’s left arm fell with a horrible wet _thud_ against the ground, but he stayed standing, breathing.

Naruto saw it, then—Zabuza’s leg, shoving Haku to the right. Kakashi's hand stopped buzzing, and he drew it back, wiping off the blood on his pants. Haku's arm—the part that was left, above the elbow—had a steady stream of red dripping from it, the _plop_ of each drop against the concrete the only thing breaking the silence. They all stood there, stock still, waiting for something to happen.

Eventually, Haku coughed and fell back. Zabuza cought him with his chest, arms hanging useless by his sides.

“He…” Zabuza breathed, and that was all the cue Naruto needed. He rushed over to them, hands deep in his pack as he rooted around for—no, not another kunai—what even _was_ that—there it was.

Kakashi stood unmoving as Naruto took out his small bundle of gauze, wrapping it around the stub left of Haku's arm. It had a startling resemblance to over-charred barbeque, and Naruto was glad that the bandages helped dampen the smell, the slight smoke. The wraps still turned red on the first few layers, but half of that was the blood on _his_ hand, and they stayed white by the time the roll fully unraveled.

Haku's eyes were closed, now, but his breathing was even. Naruto sagged with relief—He couldn't yell at Haku for answers if he was _dead_.

Sakura ran over then, as the mist began to clear. “Naruto, what are you— Did you— Where’s—”

“Go check on Sasuke. He—” Naruto didn’t know how to say _he might be dead_ , so he left it at that, and she ran off. He didn’t know what he’d do if he really _was_ dead, but Naruto focused on his ears, pooled his chakra there, and _sure enough_ , there were small _breaths_ coming from Sasuke. A grin, so out of place for the situation, broke out over Naruto’s face at that.  _Thank the gods._

His stomach felt heavy at the thought, and he remembered the voice. Was that—was that a _god_?

That would be  _so_ cool.

Kakashi-sensei stood there, shook his head, and frowned. “Excuse me, but. What are you _doing_ , Naruto?”

“He— let us live, and I let him live, and—” Naruto cut himself off as he tried to wrap a piece of Haku’s tattered clothing on the marks left in his face, but it was more difficult than he had considered. In the end, he gave up, peeling a bit of sticky fabric away. Zabuza made a noise, at that.

“C’mon, help me out here— I don’t know what I’m doing, and—”

Zabuza was quiet next to him, but he shifted a bit, and when Naruto looked at him he wasn’t really paying attention, just watching Haku’s chest move in small, irregular intervals.

After a long moment, Kakashi shrugged and told his ninken to _let go, stay here_ and took a few steps towards him, an arms length or two away. “Naruto, are you— what happened?”

“I dunno, we were fighting Haku and then he killed— well, not  _killed_ , I don't think Sasuke is _dead_ —" He rushed, at the look of alarm Kakashi had. "I heard him breathing, so don’t worry— and I—”

Naruto halted, feeling a sharp tug at his belly.

“Er, I, uh. _Don’t_ really remember, but then I had Haku pinned and he was all ‘kill me’ and I was like ‘no, you didn’t kill me’ because I saw him when I was training— well, after I was training— and he was picking flowers? Herbs? For Zabuza and—”

“You beat him?” Zabuza cut in, eyes wide as they shifted off Haku, if only for a second. 

Naruto nodded, smiling lopsided as he continued. “Yeah. After— Sasuke, it— I pinned him in like, _maybe_ ten seconds. It was _kind_ of badass.”

Zabuza frowned, and Kakashi—he didn’t really know what his sensei did, but it looked like a frown. Or a smile? His other eye was still uncovered, but it was no longer whirling, and after he noticed it, it dragged all of Naruto’s attention away. It was hard to stay on topic, because it reminded him of _Sasuke_ ’s eyes, and he _wanted_ to check if Sasuke was okay, but he couldn’t let Haku die because then he couldn’t thank him for letting Sasuke (and himself) live, and—

Kakashi’s attention jerked to the side, and his eyes narrowed. Zabuza turned a moment later. Naruto followed their eyes, and he saw—it had to be at least twenty, if not _fifty_ people following a man half their size down the bridge.

Naruto  _really_ didn't want to deal with this right now. He didn't think being a Shinobi would be so _stressful_.

“Zabuza, how _useless_ do you have to be?” the short man called, and Naruto’s anxiety rose when the man—so formidable the last time they fought—seemed to shrink away. “You and that kid of yours— I was going to pay _half_ after the trouble you caused, but now? Look at this mess. I might as well put you out of your misery after I get that damn Tazuna killed myself.”

“Shut up,” Zabuza said, but it was quiet, almost to himself.

Naruto puffed up at that. “What do you _mean_ , you’ll kill him yourself? We’re _right_ here.” He decided to ignore Kakashi-sensei’s glare in favor of turning to the voice.

The man ( _So_   _that's_ _Gato?_ Naruto wondered. _He’s shorter than I am!_ ) gestured behind himself. “Do you _really_ think you can take on fifty hired mercenaries? What are you, ten?” He laughed, and Naruto felt that **hate** bubble up again, tasting acrid in his throat. 

“C’mon, boys. Go get him already, and you’ll get your pay. I’ll even throw in _extra_ for the Shinobi.”

 Naruto didn’t realize he was yelling when he spit, “Not if _I_ have anything to do about it!” But he was already moving his hands into the seal he wanted, and he _shoved_ his chakra through his fingers until it hurt just under the skin like it had fighting Haku, and in a puff of smoke, the bridge was covered in orange.

 

_“Naruto? Are you even listening to me?”_

His attention snapped back to the present, and he grit his teeth as he threw another kunai at the target. Sasuke deflected it, easily, with a shuriken.

He had gotten out of the hospital last week, and training had turned a little lighter on the _combat_ and heavier on the _teamwork_ ever since he was back on the team. Now they were working on _Utilizing_ _Weapons_ _and_ _Supplies_ , as Kakashi-sensei had put it.

Naruto didn’t think Sasuke needed the babying, but then again, Naruto guessed he wouldn’t know. He had been fine the day after the fight.

He wondered if that was his god's work, too.

“Maybe I’d listen to you if you weren’t so _boring_ , Sasuke.”

Sasuke huffed, grabbing another kunai and tossing it over. “Idiot, I’m asking you a _question_. Why did Kakashi-sensei let them go?”

Naruto caught it and threw it back the next second. It didn’t hit the target, and the sound of metal on metal made him groan. Sakura was _so_ much easier to land a kunai against. Maybe that wasn't a good thing, though.

Whatever.

“Same reason you’re still alive, bastard. It ‘wasn’t the mission’. And like, they kind of helped us at the end there— well Zabuza tried, he was _really_ pissed, but his arms weren’t exactly working, and Haku healed you up a bit but I guess that was after— _whatever_. He said that as long as they keep Leaf Shinobi out of their books, he wasn’t gonna do anything.”

Sasuke nodded, and another kunai followed. “How did you—” he frowned, and Naruto held onto the weapon for now, walked closer and sat down on a log instead. “How did you defeat him?”

He shrugged. “I just— I—” and the tug returned at his belly, but he pushed on, because this was _Sasuke_ he was talking to. Sasuke who _died_ , but not really, and made the voice speak to him. He hadn't known what to say to Kakashi, when he asked him how he did it. But _Sasuke_ was there. He should know.

The skin of his stomach burned as he said, “I heard this voice, I guess?”

“...You heard. A _voice_.” Sasuke leveled a look at him.

Naruto huffed. “Shut up! It was crazy— like, it told me to listen, and then I was like looking at some underground sewer prison, and it told me to come closer and that I need to use hate to fight or something.” Maybe this _did_ sound a bit crazy, but it was the _truth_ , so Naruto crossed his arms and pushed on. “I dunno, I don’t really remember much. I just remember that after that, I got Haku pinned in like five seconds.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not! Ask Kakashi-sensei— well, I don’t know if he was watching through the mist, but— I’m telling the truth!” Naruto’s arms crossed tight. How _dare_ he. “I promise. He was begging for me to kill him—”

“Oh, come _on_. Stop lying to me. Haku was _begging_? Really? You expect me to believe that you, _dead last_ , had him _begging_ to die?”

“Whatever, I don’t _care_ if you believe me— it’s what happened. Then Kakashi-sensei cut his arm off and Gato showed up, and I beat the shit out of him and his dumb army with my clones, and Haku healed you up and we left. I think they stayed to help finish up the bridge or something— they might've _named_ it after me, so there's  _that_. You’re _heavy_ , you know? Kakashi-sensei made me _carry_ you most of the way home because you wouldn’t _wake up_ , and we couldn’t even train on the way back. It was so _boring_.”

" _Boring?_ "

"I mean, we kind of rushed back, and Kakashi-sensei wasn't talking a lot, and Sakura was all..." Naruto shrugged. "It was really weird."

"What, and your  _voice_ couldn't keep you company?" Sasuke put a hand on his hip, and Naruto wanted to smack the look off of his face, disbelieving and so  _arrogant_.

It's not like he could just... summon the voice at will. His idea of it being a _god_ didn't help—how were you supposed to force a god to talk to you?

He remembered the strange place he went to, when he heard it, and frowned. "I don't know... it wasn't just a voice, you know? I saw something. It was... really weird, you know? I just remember that it told me that I couldn't die, and I had to—  _harness my hate_ , or something. And when I came back, Haku was under me. I had my fingers in his face. _How_ did I even  _do_ that?"

Sasuke had a weird expression on his face before he coughed into his hand and looked away. “Naruto, let’s— let’s finish up, okay? I want to get back to _real_ training soon. If we finish this before Kakashi-sensei gets here...”

Naruto grinned. “Maybe he’ll let us use _chakra_ today.”

“You have high hopes.”

“Whatever.” Naruto smiled as he brandished another kunai. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen, okay, i wrote this instead of one of my finals. sorry for any mistakes, if you spot them i'll fix them :) thank you for reading this (so far!)
> 
> 5/16/19 edit: changed some minor things for clarity, consistency, or better comprehension. only notable changes are 1) I added a little bit more diolague and introspection between naruto and sasuke at the end, and 2) I made sure kakashi didn't say 'fuck' because he would never and i'm so sorry for disregarding his true character like that
> 
> if you wanna pop by and say hi on my discord, click [here](https://discord.gg/4jp2mfN)!!


	2. cut utilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which Sasuke hears voices of his own.]

“Chūnin Exams?” Sasuke knew they were coming up, this month. It was early May, and registration opens on the first every year.

It was always a big event, especially for the Uchiha—Sasuke vividly remembers going when he was five, when three of his cousins made it into the public finals. Itachi had been talking about taking them himself, when he was thirteen, and Sasuke listened so intently, to every word, but that was before—

Well, before.

He hadn’t expected Kakashi to _sign them up_ for it. Not their first year. _C_ _ertainly_ not after the Wave mission.

It was a... technical success, especially after its jump to _A-rank_ territory, but it still felt like a disaster. Sasuke only got out of the hospital a week or so ago, and he still favored his left leg, felt his nerves flare down his arms when he used too much chakra.  It was _irritating_ to look at Naruto, who seemed to have healed before they even got home, and be reminded of his own failures.

Of course, it was harder to swallow that he had been _so_  close to letting go of his very reason for _being_ , but he didn’t dwell on it. Couldn't dwell on it. All he could do was push himself harder so it never happened again.

He would _not_ allow himself to be that weak.

 _"The Will of Fire keeps Konoha strong,"_ his father had told him, on his first day of school. He could almost feel the way he was led by a huge hand between his shoulders, right towards the Academy's tall doors. Could almost feel the way his father's eyes never met Sasuke's, even as he spoke directly to him.

_"Everyone living here— they are as much your family as the Uchiha are. Your brother has done well to bring honor to that family. See to it that you do as well."_

And yet here he was, letting down his father by stagnating. He couldn't even make it through his first real mission without nearly getting killed. He had wallowed in this self-pity whie he was in the hospital, replaying what went wrong, how he could have done better, how he could have  _helped_. How to catch up to Itachi when all he could do was fail and fail and fail to get there fast enough.

And yet, he felt a traitorous excitement at the mention of the exams. He—his brother passed them his first try. Sasuke needed to do the same. Prove that he was getting _somewhere_. Maybe then he could feel redeemed, in the eyes of his village. His  _family_.

Not Itachi. He was no more of a brother to him now than Zabuza was. Is.

(He still wasn't sure what to think of the Kiri-nin. What to think of them nearly killing him, and then being let go. But that was another thing he wouldn't touch, not until he was strong enough to have the luxury of wondering.)

Kakashi-sensei nodded from where he leaned against a tree, standing while the rest of the team sat. Sasuke had wondered why he brought them there during their lunch break, but, he supposed he’d rather have something to do while he thought about taking the Exams. Naruto was beside him, eyes wide and mouth _just_ open, expression full of awe as he sat there, frozen, mid-bite of instant ramen.

(Kakashi had heated it for him with just his _chakra_ , Sasuke remembered, begrudgingly. He’d have to ask how to do that, sometime.)

He was silent, for once. Somehow that was more aggrivating than his speech.

“Maa, but the Exams are different, this year." Sasuke tensed, sitting up straighter, forgetting to peel his orange as Kakashi spoke.

"Different?" The Exams were different  _every_ year. What could he mean—

"This year, Suna-nin are participating.”

He almost dropped his orange.

“Wait, _Suna_? Why?”

Sakura was nodding, just as shocked as Sasuke. “Don’t they have their own exams?" She had a mouthful of salad, and she took a moment to forcibly swallow before continuing. "Why are they coming all the way to Konoha for them? Aren’t tensions... high enough, already?”

“That’s exactly why,” Kakashi explained, and Sasuke didn’t have a clue what he meant. He looked at the rest of the team, with mirrored confusion, and heard Kakashi sigh.

It’s not _their_ fault he was always so cryptic.

“Listen up. Officially, Suna is sending over their team to prove their friendship to Konoha, but there’s more to it. Look at it like this— normally, Konoha hosts the Exams. They’re not only for our own genin, but anyone within the Land of Fire wishing to become official Shinobi recognized the Land, not just their own village.”

“Yeah, so what?” Naruto crossed his arms, and Sasuke wanted to punch him for interrupting. So much for the silence. “That doesn’t explain why Suna is sending people over here.”

“Well, _Naruto,_ ” Kakashi continued, not without a chastising glance. “Along with evaluating who makes chūnin, the Exams help display the power of each of village, small and large. Think of who watches the Exams—”

“What, the village? The _Hokage?_ So they’re just trying to _scare_ us or something?”

Kakashi cut in, and Sasuke’s attention snapped to him. “Not _just_ the Hokage. The Exams are broadcast across the nation— the _Daimyo_ watches, too.”

“Oh,” Sakura said, like she understood. “Of course. It makes sense.”

“What do you _mean_ it _makes sense_ _!_ ” Naruto sat forward, looking on the verge of getting up, and his empty (how did he eat so fast?) ramen cup fell off his lap and onto the ground next to him, long forgotten.

“Naruto,” and  _hah_ _!_ , her voice was almost sing-song, entirely _too_ patient. Sasuke couldn’t help but smirk. He liked her when she as like this—sarcastic, and maybe even mean. It gained her a bit of the respect she lost every time she _fangirled_ over him.

Speaking of. She hadn't done that in a while. Not since before the wave mission, actually.

Interesting.

“I think— Suna is probably trying to prove that they’re strong to the Fire Daimyo, right? To show that they haven’t been weakened by the ongoing famine, and that they can fight if they need to. They want to prove that the Land of Wind can defend themselves so the Land of Fire doesn’t attack them and remembers they're good allies.”

Kakashi nodded, and she beamed. "Sakura, very good. Officially, they’re here on good terms, but a good Shinobi will always look for alternative motive.”

" _What!_ Wait, so you’re saying— figuring that out— this was _training?_ ”

“Maa, Naruto, you think to much.” Sasuke though that was the _opposite_ of the problem. “No, not training. Just a reminder. I think you three will do well in the Exams, if you choose to take them. You’re all very capable, and you work well as a team. But if you _do_ choose the Exams, remember that you’re representing your village, and you _must_ be on your guard. At _all_ times. Genin can die during them, after all— this year especially, with Suna-nin in the works. And in our village.” Kakashi seemed serious, for a long moment, before he relaxed again against the tree and pulled out his _book_ , of all things. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, though.”

Sasuke was going to get whiplash from the mood swings his sensei had.

“Well, I’m _going_ to take them, and I’m _going_ to win.” There was Naruto's bravado. Something easir to predict and understand.

“Naruto, you _moron_ , you don’t even know what the Exams will be this year!” Sakura’s face turned a few shades closer to her hair, and Sasuke smirked. She was funny when she got angry.

“I don’t care! Whatever they are, I’ll crush the competition, and then I’ll become a chūnin, and then I’ll become _Hokage!_ ”

Kakashi let out a short laugh without looking up. “Slow down, there, Naruto. You can’t skip jōnin, after all, and the Exams are nothing to sniff at. Just because I’m confident you won’t _die_ doesn’t mean they’ll be easy. _You_ , especially, should study— if you can’t pass the written portion, then you can’t prove how _big and strong_ you’ve gotten during the finals, can you?”

“There’s a _written_ exam? Man, that’s so lame. What’s on it?”

“You know I can’t tell you that, especially if you plan on taking it. Not only would that be cheating, which could get you banned from the Shinobi system _entirely_ …” He paused, and Naruto gulped. _Intimidated_ was not a good look on him, in Sasuke’s opinion. Though. The bravado wasn't much better.

“But, I guess I wouldn’t know anything, anyway. The written and team portions of the Exams change every year, and I took them a long time ago. Plus, I was a rather good student, so they weren’t exactly an issue for me. I’m afraid I didn’t find them noteworthy enough to remember.”

Sasuke shoved an orange slice into his mouth to keep from laughing at Sakura’s expression as she gasped, “ _You_ were a _good student?_ Kakashi-sensei, you’re late to every training session! You— you read _porn_ while we train!”

She had a point—Kakashi wasn’t what he thought of when he he imagined a good student. Really, Kakashi reminded him more of Naruto—he was a lot more grown-up and serious than the blonde idiot Sasuke was teamed with, but both of them seemed to take being a Shinobi about as seriously as Sasuke took his fans.

Then again, Sakura wasn’t really one to talk. She was _one_ of those fans. Or, is?

Sasuke wished, not for the first time, that he had been placed on a different team.

Kakashi shrugged. “I was rather different back then. I took my studies very seriously, followed a lot of rules… I was only seven when I took them, after all.”

Sasuke nearly spit out his orange. Around the slice he managed, “ _Seven?_ ”

Kakashi look at him with a tired expression, from what Sasuke could discern around the mask and the hitai-ate. “Times were different when I was a child. We were on the brink of war, and still hadn’t recovered from the last one, so genin were being enrolled younger and younger. I’m a lot cooler than you guys give me credit for, you know. I was a jōnin at thirteen.”

Thirteen? That was almost _their_ age, and— _Itachi_ joined _Anbu_ at thirteen. If Kakashi was telling the truth…

Sasuke frowned and looked at his orange. Maybe he should give him more credit. Itachi was one of the brightest minds the Uchiha had seen for years, and he tested off the charts—his scores were only second to the Yondaime’s, and he was older than Kakashi when he _started_ school. Kakashi was in league with some of the most powerful ninja this village had ever known.

Then again, Itachi isn’t the best example of a model Shinobi. And the Yondaime is dead.

And Kakashi was here. Alive. Teaching.

 _Maybe I can learn more from Kakashi after all_.

Naturo huffed an annoyed, “Well, _sensei_ , if you were a jōnin at thirteen, why are you such a bad teacher? Aren’t you like, _old?_ You should be better by now.”

Kakashi narrowed his eye at that. “I am _not_ old. I’m not even thirty yet.”

“Why do you have grey hair, then, huh, _grandpa?_ ”

“Shut up, Naruto!” Sakura swatted at him. “Kakashi-sensei is a _war_ _veteran_. Maybe he greyed early because of the stress, or—”

“Yeah? Well how come the rest of the team leaders still have _nice_ hair, then—”

“I was _born_ with this hair, okay? It’s _white_ , not _grey_.” He huffed, then glanced to the side. “And I, er. Never had a team before you three.” His hand was rubbing the back of his neck, and Sasuke rolled his eyes at the gesture.

Kakashi was still an idiot, even if he was more impressive than Sasuke thought.

“Don’t— look, we were at war when I made jōnin, okay? And then I was— busy, and the Hokage didn’t ask me to teach until a few years ago. It has nothing to do with my ability. I’m not… a _bad_ teacher, am I?”

Team 7 blinked up at him.

“Guys, come on. You don’t think I’m a bad sensei, right? Think of how far you’ve come! When you three started, you couldn’t even focus your chakra. I even…” He sighed. “Look, we took a break from training so I could tell you about the Chūnin Exams, not to talk about me. I’ll let you think on your answers today, so we can cut training short. I expect you back here tomorrow by eight.” A puff of smoke appeared, and Sasuke didn’t need to wait for it to dispel to know Kakashi was gone.

“ _Ugh_ , Kakashi-sensei is so _lazy_.” Naruto flopped back onto the grass, a few strands getting stuck in his hair. Not that Sasuke was watching. “And he should _know_ we’re already taking the Exams.”

Sakura shifted a bit, and Sasuke could tell she was nervous with the way she played with the hem of her dress, but she didn’t say anything.

They couldn’t take the exams without a team of three, but, she could always be replaced by a teamless from another village. Still, she wasn’t… she was smart, and she worked well with the rest of Team 7. He hoped she’d take it with them, if only to keep Naruto from ruining it during the team portion and getting them all disqualified.

Or killed.

...Actually, on second thought. He  _needed_ her.

“Sakura,” he started, and he hated the way her full attention snapped to him. “You should take the Exams.”

She looked almost startled. “W-what? You think—”

“Wait, you’re thinking of _not_ taking them?” Naruto sat up quicker than he went down, hands pressing on his ankles to brace himself upright. “Sakura, you _have_ to. If we become chūnin, we can finally take on _real_ missions, you know? Aren’t you tired of all the D-rank garbage they have us doing?”

“I don’t know,” she said, fingers moving onto a loose strand of hair, long enough to reach her lap with her slumped posture. “We’ve only been genin for a few months. Do you... do you _really_ think I can make it? Through the _C_ _hūnin Exams?_ I mean, you two are really strong, and I’m… I don’t know.”

“What do you mean? You’re really smart, and talented, and strong, and you can totally kick ass on the tests with us! Right, Sasuke?” Naruto looked to him with wide, blue eyes, and Sasuke couldn’t help but nod.

He was right, after all. Sakura had excellent test scores—Ino had been _fuming_ about getting second of all the kunoichi, and it was clear who was first—and she had chakra control that still far exceeded what he could manage. He had to admit that she packed a… _surprising_ punch, as well. She was _good_ , when she applied herself. The main issue was that she rarely _did_. She was pretty much opposite to Naruto, who was far too self-assured for someone that _still_ couldn’t make a basic clone.

She needed  _confidence_. He would help her with that.

“He’s right, Sakura. You may not have the stamina Naruto has, or the skill I do, but you’re intelligent and you have control. You keep the team balanced. I don’t want anyone else on our team, during the exams.”

“Exactly. We _need_ you for the Exams, Sakura. It’s not Team Seven without you. Won’t you take them with us?”

She bit her lip and looked between them. “You mean it?”

“Every word,” Sasuke supplied, and Naruto nodded emphatically next to him.

She still seemed unsure, but eventually she nodded. Naruto whooped, but Sasuke just gave her a firm nod of approval. She blushed at it. He figured she was more embarrassed by the attention than anything else. He hoped, at least.

“Sweet! Then, Sakura, do you think— can you help me study for the written portion?”

Sasuke looked at Naruto like he had grown a second head.

“You’re asking— _me_ — to help you _study?_ ”

He nodded, eyes bright as he scooted closer to her. “Yeah. Kakashi said I should, and you’re the smartest person on the team. You’re always reading, too, so like. You could totally help me, right?”

She frowned, and looked like she wanted to say something, but Naruto kept talking before she could get a word in.

“I just… I know you probably think I’m really stupid, but. I’m trying, okay! I try and read all the time, but it’s so— _boring_ , and nobody ever helped me out at the Academy, so I _know_ I don’t know a lot but I _really_ don’t want to fail the Exams. Do you— would you help me study? _Please?_ I promise I’ll listen to you. I’ll— I’ll do anything you want in return!”

She took a moment to digest his words, before narrowing her eyes. She muttering, warily, “ _Anything?_ ”

“Anything.”

Sakura bit her lip again—Sasuke wondered if that’s what she did when she was thinking. “Fine. But!” She held up a finger, and Naruto (somehow) managed not to interrupt. “In return, I want— I want you to help me train. With stuff like ninjutsu, and taijutsu. I know how to do everything in _theory_ , but I always... I always fall short in practice. I can’t be so— so _useless_ , anymore. Not if we’re going to take the Exams. I need to be _stronger_. So, can you do that for me?”

Naruto stared at her before grinning, wide, and giving her a thumbs up. “You better _believe_ I can!”

“Okay. Then… When…?”

Sasuke felt like he was intruding, on some kind of moment between his teammates. He didn’t realize how willing they were to improve. It was familiar, to him, and he could respect that. Them.

Except they didn’t _need_ to be stronger, like he did. They didn’t have his goal, didn’t need to achieve it at all costs. They would _never_ have the burden he did.

Still, he felt like he should leave, listening them work out when to train together. He didn’t like hearing the emotion in their words. It reminded him too much of the ghosts left in the compound, the family he’d never see again. The boy he used to be, asking time and time again for Itachi to train him, and getting turned down almost as often.

“Uh, I usually train with Sasuke before Kakashi gets here, so, why don’t you— if you want to, that is— you could join with us? And then after, we can go do… book stuff? Together?”

“Wait, _that’s_ what you’re doing before I get here? _Training_ with _Sasuke?_ ”

“Uh, _yeah_. Kakashi-sensei has been babying us ever since he got out of the hospital, so we’ve been doing our _own_ training before you get here. If you want to join in, just get here, like, an hour early. I can _totally_ show you some of the stuff I've learned. And Sasuke isn’t too bad, either—”

Sasuke was _more_ than _not bad_. He got up, breaking the last two segments of orange apart as he spoke. “Naruto, you barely know enough to teach."

He had to look away at the way Naruto's expression deflated. Coughing, he continued. "Anyway, you can join in with us in the mornings, Sakura, and we’ll help you get better with your fighting, with and without weapons.”

Sakura smiled, small and sweet, before she turned away from him. “O-okay, then. After training, mom usually wants me home to help with dinner… but I have a few hours before that, so we can go to the library, and I can help you with… book stuff.” She giggled, and looked surprised at herself for doing it. “Oh, this is a dumb idea, isn’t it? Trying to teach _Naruto_ years of the Academy in a few _weeks_.”

“Hey! I—”

“Don’t worry, dummy. I’m still going to try, if you’re going to try and teach _me_ how to fight. Just…” She trailed off and shook her head, smiling as she stood up. “Whatever. Do you want to get started today, then? We have a lot of time to get to the library and rent out some books, if you want to.”

Naruto followed her up with so much excitement Sasuke thought he could see him vibrating. He was tempted to try and catch it with his Sharingan, but. Now was not the time to try and control his eyes. Kakashi had already told him that he’d help him, after he recovered, but Sasuke wanted to learn more _now_ , and he felt nearly _fine_ , aside from the occasional pains down his arms. He _needed_ to gain control as fast as possible.

And, now, he needed to learn even _faster_. How was he supposed to represent the Uchiha in the Exams if he couldn’t even use his Sharingan?

“Sure! I have nothing going on, like, _ever_ , so. Yeah. Let’s go.”

Sakura packed up the remains of her lunch (and brushed a piece of salad out of her hair, he noticed, with a smirk) and turned to leave.

And, well. Sasuke _almost_ asked to go with them. He saw the value in looking back at what he knew, confirming his knowledge and filling in gaps he didn’t realize were there. Even he, with the best scores of their year, could use some refreshing. And he would admit that his team was beginning to grow on him. He might even consider them his _friends._ But the the Sharingan... they couldn't help him with that.

He had to work on that alone. Maybe they could catch up while he did.

So he gave them a small wave, instead, and went back to his apartment.

Sakura’s disappointed expression didn’t change his desicion. He would always be an Uchiha first, and one of Konoha second.

“Sasuke, come _on!_ ” His eyes jerked back to Naruto, took in his petulant scowl. “You can’t get out of this just because you did well in school.”

“I’m _busy_.”

“We’re still supposed to be training, so I _know_ you can’t be _busy_. Come on. What are you, scared of a little reading?”

Sasuke balled his fist in efforts to stay _calm_. There was no use, going to study with his team while he could be doing more important things—

Itachi’s voice rang through his skull, then, as it often did when he least expected it.

 

_“Brother, when will I get my Sharingan?”_

_Itachi halted, mid-throw of his shuriken, and turned to Sasuke. “Hmm? Why do you ask?”_

_“I heard you got them yours when you were really young. How come I don’t have mine yet, then?” Sasuke shuffled on the stump he sat on, and Itachi came near him, crouched so he met his eye like he never did._

_“Sasuke, the Sharingan is sometimes called the ‘eye that reflects the heart’. Do you know why this is?”_

_He shook his head, listening intently._

_“It is because of the nature of their initial manifestation. When an Uchiha experiences a powerful emotion, with regards to a person precious to them, our eyes change into the Sharingan. You must know, by now, of the rumors. That we take the lives of those close to us to get our eyes. These are not all rumors— the clan may act like they are, but you should realize the truth to these claims. However, the Sharingan cannot be reduced to that— the prize of betrayal. Do you know how father got his last two tomoe?”_

_Again, Sasuke shook ‘no’._

_“You know the story of his Sharingan— how his best friend sacrificed his life for our father, during the war. But his tomoe... he got one for each of his sons, upon holding them for the first time. Or so the story goes.” Itachi put a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, keeping him frozen in place. “We Uchiha often forget that the Sharingan may come about from the positive, as well. Our desire to protect those precious to us can be just as powerful as knowing their last breath. Do remember that this Village is your family, Sasuke. Konoha's strength lies in the love we have for all of those born here, as they, too, are our brothers. We must protect them with out life.”_

_“But— brother—_ _when_ _will I get mine?”_

_Itachi quirked an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”_

_Sasuke nodded, wiggling despite himself in excitement._

_“Well…” Itachi’s hand moved off of Sasuke’s shoulder, and he watched as it moved up, closer, right next his eyes and then higher and—_

**_Poke_**.

_“Ow!”_

_“You will awaken your eyes when the time is right. Now let me get back to my training.”_

 

And now he had his eyes, didn’t he? Sharingan he didn’t know how to use, and he got them right before trying to throw everything away for the sake of a mission that didn’t even _matter_.

His teammates, he realized, _did_. To him. Naruto was the reason he had his eyes. Sasuke  _awakened_ his Sharingan on that mission, trying to keep that  _idiot_  alive. He remembered with _perfect_ clarity the moment he threw himself in front of Haku’s senbon, remembered _exactly_ the confusion he felt while he did so.

Sasuke frowned.

His brother is not someone he should be taking advice from.

But his memories were from before, and they were all he had to go off of. Maybe—

Maybe the library had _more_ about his eyes. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? He had checked the archives at the compound for any information he could gain, but they had been near-completely destroyed, when.

But they weren’t the only archives in Konoha. How had he glossed over this? Maybe the library had something on the Uchiha— _anything_ about the Sharingan could help. He had no one other than Kakashi to help him, and Kakashi’s eye wasn’t even _his_. He could help Sasuke use them, but he didn’t know anything about awakening them himself. Maybe there were  _books_ that  _did_.

“Fine,” he said, after what must have been ages. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t miss the way they both lit up, like he had agreed to give them the world instead of spend the afternoon reading with them. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, doing his research next to them.

The village, after all, was the family he had left. He would  _not_ dissapoint them.

He would  _not_ let the Uchiha name lose all pride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aw, look at these Model Uchiha, spouting the Will of Fire like a good Shinobi should :)  
> Again, thanks for reading!


	3. water erosion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which Sakura's own voice is enough, and she learns something new.]

Sakura took in a deep breath, biting her lip as she stared at her front door. The stack of books in her arms felt heavier now than they did during her journey home, and she wondered if she should have came home at all— she was legally considered independent, she could go where she wanted. But that would mean she would have asked to stay with either Naruto or Sasuke, and… 

She could never do that. That was something she would never ask.

Especially not after Sasuke _chastised_ her like a _child_ for taking her home— her _family_ — for granted. For daring to make fun of Naruto for not having any.

Sometimes, Sakura was struck with how stupid she is.

It was late— later than she had ever been, coming home from studying— and Sakura could feel the nerves building in her throat. Over a week had passed since Team 7 confirmed that they were taking the Chūnin Exams and each day had been filled with training upon training upon training, starting far too early and ending far too late. It was exhausting, but she _needed_ it, needed to be on the same level as her teammates. If they were to pass these exams, she would have to push through the dull ache in her limbs, half from the books and half from the strain they were put under that morning.

Still, she pushed on. She had to.

 _“Is that the best you’ve got?”_ Naruto had said to her the third morning she trained with him and Sasuke. She had collapsed, sucking in lungfuls of air after sparring with clone after clone, and even though she knew he had ridiculous stamina she could feel in each punch that he was going _easy_ on her. And yet, she was exhausted, despite herself. Naruto looked like he could keep going for hours.

 _“I can’t,”_ she had responded.

 _“Sakura, remember what it means to be a shinobi,”_ Sasuke had chimed from the tree he was watching from, calling out pointers every now and again. Now that Sakura had joined in, he often elected to give them pointers from his perch while he practiced unleashing the Sharingan at will. _“A shinobi is one who endures.”_

She _was_ a shinobi, had become one the day she left the Academy. She _would_ endure this.

Letting out one more, calming breath, she went inside.

She knew her mother was getting back from a mission _soon_ , either tonight or tomorrow morning, but her father should be home. Judging by the quiet of the house, she wasn’t there, and he was asleep.

Normally, she came home to a bright, loud house, filled with the banter between her parents as they began dinner. Her mother was strict, and her father was the complete opposite— dinner took at minimum an extra half hour than it should to prepare because of him. Most nights, Sakura’s appearance marked when they started _actually_ preparing things, but when she was still a student she regularly came home before either of them and started it herself. She didn’t know what she enjoyed more— walking in to the quiet squabbles between her parents, or eating her dinner on time.

(She felt, as she often did, guilty. Guilty for having such a family to come home to, when the rest of her team had no one.)

Sasuke and Naruto… they reminded her of her parents.

After today's ( _excessive_ , she thought, looking at the books she held) time spent studying, Team 7 had ended up at Ichiraku’s. That was… usually the case, now, since beginning to work until night with Naruto. He had argued with Sasuke over who would pay the _whole_ way there, but even though Sasuke refused to cover them all ( _“We all get the same pay, dumbass, why wouldn’t we split it?”_ ), Naruto seemed happy enough to eat ramen he had to buy himself.

 _They’re just an old married couple at heart_ , Sakura thought, letting out a voiceless, exasperated huff of laughter. _That’s why they can fight all the time and then work so well together on our missions._

The Wave mission… they acted like they had been training for  _years_ together, when they fought Zabuza. And she… all she did was stand there. Out of the way, at least.

( _Useless_. Always useless.)

Sometimes she still wished it felt like that between her and Sasuke. But, seeing him nearly dead had put some things into perspective, and she realized her crush on him was more… emulating Ino, than her true feelings. Yet again.

A lot of things she did could branch back to Ino. The way she styled her hair, the cut of her dress, the jokes she made. The look she gave when she worried. Sakura wanted to distance from that. Be her own person. And that included— loving Sasuke, of course, but… as a friend, and a teammate. Not… like _that_.

Realizing how shallow she was before… she would have sighed, deep and full of regret, if she weren’t trying to keep quiet.

Sakura was a _shinobi_ now. Crushes like that were for Academy kids.

Silently, she toed off her sandals, balancing the tower of literature in the crook of her elbow to get a hand free. Though it was darker than she was used to coming home to, she left the lights off, carefully maneuvering through the moonlit rooms until she reached her own.

Mom wasn’t home yet, she figured, or she’d have gotten a lecture by now. Some _you can’t come home late_ or _I was worried_ or _you’re still my daughter_ that she had been saying all week, when Sakura missed dinner.

( _You’re lucky you have someone left to worry about you,_ her mind hissed, in too-familiar tones. _Your lucky anyone cares at all._ )

Once there, she flicked on her lamp, sat down her books, and set up her futon, pulling the low table in her room next to it so she could lay out a book on it as she read.

Despite the exhaustion in her body, her mind was not tired enough to go to sleep. Usually she wound down by helping with the preparation and cleanup of dinner, then did whatever other chores her mom required before she took a bath and went to bed. In the absence of her routine she hungered for knowledge.

Especially from the book she had found earlier that evening— the reason she was so late.

Team 7 had stayed in the library as long as Sakura was there, and neither of her teammates had the sense to stop her when she found the large, worn book titled _Fūinjutsu 101: Back to Basics_. She had planned on making Naruto read it after he finished with _Ninjutsu: The Art of Molding Chakra_ , because he _needed_ information that fundamental to… all of ninjutsu, apparently.

What she gleaned from the table of contents was basic, well-known sealing theory they had learned in the Academy— things like how hand seals translate to drawn ones or how to make explosive tags. Things you needed to know to graduate from the Academy at all.

Things she was _certain_ Naruto knew nearly nothing about.

She had wondered, like she often did, how Naruto had managed to pass.

(How he managed to _miss_ so much information _vital_ to becoming a shinobi. Iruka had helped her so _much_ , as her main teacher, and yet with the little attention she now gave Naruto he managed to learn… starlingly quick. He grasped concepts easily once he had something tangible to relate them to, and with each example Sakura supplied, he seemed to catch on faster than she ever expected he could.

Even _Sasuke_ seemed impressed, judging by the looks he gave them when he grew tired of skimming through his latest outdated textbook about the Sharingan.

 _How_ did Iruka let Naruto go on missing so much vital information? How did any of the Academy teachers, for that matter?

 _How_ did he _pass_ like this?)

A book like that wouldn’t steal her attention away, normally. What had drawn her for so long was the introduction— the standard Academy textbooks jumped right into the theory, and Sakura had expected to be skimming through chapters of text she already knew, aside from the slight changes she was checking for outdated information. The book looked pretty old, after all.

To her surprise, this one started with a section on the history of fūinjutsu.

It was short, only a few paragraphs or so, but what it said had her looking through the entire library for…  _more_. She felt like this was something she should have learned in school. And yet, this was the first she was hearing of it. 

> _Fūinjutsu, while known by most shinobi, have become something of a hiden for those hailing from Uzushiogakure. While the scope of this volume is basic theory, advanced fūinjutsu is regarded widely as one of the most feared hiden across all Five Great Shinobi Countries. The Uzumaki clan’s bloodline allows them to use these techniques, some of which even Konoha is incapable of replicating. Mito Uzumaki, wife to the Shodai, used such techniques to seal the Kyuubi within herself to ensure the strength and safety of Konoha for years to come. The theory within this book explains how that can be possible, and how you may go on to learn fūinjutsu possible of impressing even her!_

First off— Sakura was not aware that the first Hokage married an _Uzumaki_. She knew the bare basics of the clan— they lived in Uzushio, within the Land of Whirlpools, they were allied with Konoha, and they were honorable shinobi during their prime. But they had either scattered or been killed when Uzushio was destroyed, something that all happened a long time before she was born.

Naruto was one of the few survivors of the clan. It wasn't… surprising, really. To see that is parents were nowhere to be found. Presumed dead, she assumed.

Sakura hadn’t thought anything more of it before. She supposed it made sense, given how common the emblem of Uzushio was even after their fall, that they must have played some important part in Konoha’s history. She wondered why it wasn’t taught at the Academy anymore— maybe because the Clan was mostly defunct and died out, it didn’t feel important to teach about them any longer. Their hiden must be gone, for the most part, if they guarded it that well, so there really was little use explaining it, she supposed.

Second off— Sakura was not aware that fūinjutsu could be so _strong_. Nobody she knew was a master of their techniques, at least not like this book described— she couldn’t imagine what power it must’ve taken to seal something strong enough to threaten the destruction of _Konoha_ within yourself. The Kyuubi was terrifying, from what she read of the stories, the history. What her parents said, briefly, while discussing the attack the year she was born. Sealing such a— a _demon_ within yourself, for the sake of your village? She had no doubt it was mentioned because of the fear it must have struck in the other hidden villages.

The language used, though… Sakura had frowned, in the library, and reread the passage. 

> _The Uzumaki clan’s bloodline allows them to use these techniques, some of which even Konoha is incapable of replicating._

That almost sounded like… no, it couldn’t be—

> _The Uzumaki clan’s bloodline_ _is_ _incapable_ _of_ _replicating_ _._
> 
> _The **bloodline** is  **incapable of replicating.**  
>  _

Sakura had gasped, hand flying to cover her mouth. That sounded like a _kekkei_ _genkai_ , not a _hiden_.

 _“Everyone can use the Yamanaka’s hiden,”_ Ino had told her, when they were young and barely started school. _“We might be the best at them, but that’s because our clan has been doing them so long that we’re just naturally better at them! You could do them, too, if you learned how.”_

 _“Can you teach me?”_ She remembered asking, chastising herself even now for such a stupid question.

Ino had shook her head like she got asked that all the time. Sakura supposed she probably did.

_“Sorry, no-can-do, Sakura. They’re called hiden for a reason, silly! I can show you what I know, though— what this!”_

But if there were certain techniques _only_ the Uzumaki could do—

Maybe this was misleading language. Maybe they were just referring to incredibly well-guarded hiden, right? Because if not, that would make them _kekkei genkai_ , not _hiden_ , and that would would mean—

That would mean only _Naruto_ could do them. She didn’t know of any other Uzumaki left in Konoha, other than him, that were shinobi. Sometimes she heard the name, but the more she tried to remember, the more she realized— all of them, all of the times she heard of an Uzumaki, they were either a civilian, or dead.

Naruto might be the only one left able to _unlock_ something like that. At least in _this_ village.

And, with the Chūnin Exams coming up… there wasn’t much time, but she wondered if she could find out more before the team exam began. Those were usually longer, and they’d be the first time Team 7 was faced against other teams— the first time their life would be in real danger.

(Other than the Wave mission. But that was accidental, shouldn’t have happened— genin were _never_ put on missions like that.

 _Why couldn't you handle it,_ she sulked,  _when the rest of your team could?_ )

When the participants were all from the Land of Fire, there were little to no casualties during the Exams. Her father mentioned to her, when she told her parents that she _was_ planning on taking them, that there hadn’t been a death during them since before she was born. They weren’t _meant_ to kill off prospective shinobi, after all— sometimes people got hurt, but it made no sense to intentionally let the military force die during a _test_.

Kiri came to mind, again, and she frowned. No wonder it was doing so poorly. It was still recovering from the era of the _Bloody Mist._

The one that ended with Zabuza.

Haku came to mind, then, as well, with his kekkei genkai that nearly killed Sasuke. She heard he used his Sharingan during the fight and _still_ couldn’t beat him— but Haku had let him life, in the end. Went so far as to heal him before Team 7 journed back, despite his butchered arm and Zabuza's mangled ones.

After some debate, she decided that hoped the duo was doing alright. No sense holding a grudge when they had helped Team 7 defend the bridge and it’s most important builder, and even _stayed_ to help _build_ it themselves after everything was said and done. They were strange, she would admit that, but they had only been trying to kill Tazuna because they were paid to. It was— it was their mission, technically.

(She didn’t like thinking too much on them and their motives, their morals. She didn’t _want_ to know what she would have done, if she were in a position like Haku’s. If she _would_ have done anything different, like she hoped.)

Anyway, with Suna entering, Kakashi said to be on guard. At _all_ times. Sakura had the feeling this year was going to be different ( _deadly,_ her mind supplied) and she wanted to be prepared for the worst.

That meant that she should look for more information on advanced fūinjutsu. If Uzumaki were _feared_ for it, it _had_ be useful during the Chūnin Exams. Sealing techniques were always versatile, and if she could manage to find some text describing _hiden_ , then they’d have a _significant_ advantage against the other teams.

Suna-nin wouldn’t know _nearly_ the same amount about fūinjutsu as anyone in Konoha— that was apparent, even _before_ discussing the prospect of hiden. Sealing techniques would, thus, be the _perfect_ thing to learn in preparation for facing them, and Sakura wanted that edge. For herself, as much as it was possible, but more than that, for Naruto.

With what was possibly a _kekkei_ _genkai_ he wasn’t even _aware_ he could have.

Obviously, she had considered going to Kakashi-sensei first. But she had quickly ruled that out— if he knew about this, he would have brought it up by now, right? She _hoped_ her sensei wouldn’t keep something like that from the team, if he knew about it. Judging by how she learned about the vague possibility from a tattered textbook phased out before the Second Shinobi World War, it was easier to believe he didn’t.

And if _Naruto_ knew, well. The whole _village_ would know by now.

So, she had to have ( _possibly_ , she stressed, she still wasn’t sure) found something that no one was aware of, or at least thinking about, right now.

It felt good, for once, to really feel like she was actually being productive. To feel like she had a place on the team, doing this kind of thing.

But that accompanied the guilt. Because… she couldn’t tell Naruto about it.

Not _yet_ , at least.

There were only five days left until the Exams began, and she didn’t want him to fail the first part because he was busy trying to, gods forbid, _research himself_. She did _not_ want to see what his obsessive determination could do if it was set towards finding _specific_ information. He was pouring all of his focus into reading already, and he was learning fast. If that attention was focused onto _this_ … Sakura worried her lip.

It was easy to see how Sasuke mostly ignored the recap she was giving Naruto (though, is it a recap if he barely learned the first time?) in favor of reading everything that so much as _mentioned_ the Sharingan. Naruto, she could see, would be _far_ worse than Sasuke if properly motivated.

A snort escaped her at the thought of Naruto and a hoard of shadow clones searching through the library while attempting to stay _quiet_. As if he could manage— it was hard enough to keep him at an acceptable volume _now_ with just _one_ of him.

So, given that neither of her other teammates were fit to _help_ her, Sakura did the only logical thing she could.

She searched through the entire library herself.

Well, saying she searched through the entire thing herself sounds a lot more impressive when you don’t take into account how little there was for her to get to. The lower levels included larger archives, but they were behind a chūnin-level access wall that she couldn’t breach without Kakashi. And she _really_ didn’t expect his help in this— not because he wouldn’t care, but mostly because he was lazy. Plus, she wanted to finish as much research as possible before they finished the written exam. Waiting on him would be too much of a hassle.

If she ran out of relevant books in the next four days, _then_ she’d ask him.

She didn’t think she would, staring at the large stack of books next to her futon. Most of them talked about fūinjutsu at the more advanced level, and she even found something covering Uzushio and _two_ about Mito Uzumaki that she thought might point her in the right direction of a kekkei genkai, if there was one.

It had taken her  _hours_ to find them all, and she was _sure_ this was all that was in the public section. Not that it was a small haul— there were over ten books here that might discuss something she wasn't sure even existed. She thought that the time she spent searching for them was worth it.

Now, all that was left was for her to read them.

She picked up _Mito Uzumaki,_ _Shadow of the Shodai_ , looking at the thickness of the book and feeling the exhaustion in her body set into her eyelids.

But she wouldn’t let herself go to sleep, not yet. She opened the pages and got to combing through them with determination.

This is how she could be _useful_.

She wouldn't let her team down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sakura won't always center around naruto development lol  
> i actually intended to write her interracting with her parents here, but then the chapter was getting far too long, so,,, ah,,,,, next time, I guess  
> as always, comments and kudos are to the sunlight as my writing is to a plant forgotten in the dark corner of a kitchen (that is, they fuel it! thank you for the continued support!) I hope you all enjoyed! <3 <3 <3


	4. drop after drop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which Team 7 trains.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [alternatively: in which Naruto is oblivious, Sasuke is embarassed, and Sakura is a bad liar.]

When Naruto made it to the training field— _early_ , even!— he expected, well.

Their _routine_.

The whole 'sparring-with-Sakura-while-Sasuke-watches-with-his-uncooperative-special-eyes' thing. The one that they’d been doing for a while now. That was what they agreed on, right?

So when he spotted Sakura sitting in the shade of a tree with a book open in her lap, his run faltered, stuttering for a step or two before he slowed down. Sasuke was there, too, leaning against the same tree with his arms crossed as if he had to act all _tough_ and _cool_ for the forest, too. When Naruto got close enough, he realized they were talking, even though their focus seemed elsewhere.

“—ell him I’m doing this yet, okay? You know how he’d get if I said anything right now. I just... thank you. For doing this.”

Sasuke made a hum in response, shifted a bit, and a moment later Sakura looked up, then went rigid as she sat up straighter. “Oh! Naruto. You’re… earlier than usual.” He didn’t know why, but she looked almost… nervous.

With a grin, he asked, “Don’t tell who about what?”

“O-oh, nothing, Naruto. Don’t worry about it.”

Before he could press, because he _hated_ not being included in things, Sakura quickly rushed more. “Um. Also! I’m not sparring today.”

“Wait, why? I thought—” He thought she wanted to. _She_ was the one that asked. Did something happen? Was she _hurt_?

Sakura was blushing like she was _embarrassed_ , though, so maybe not. She waved a dismissing hand, laughing a little. “Don’t look so _worried_. I just want to use all the time I can get to study, that’s all. You can last a few days without using me as a punching bag, right?”

He huffed, because, “Sakura, you _know_ you’re not just—”

“Naruto,” Sasuke cut in, and he trailed off, eyes fixed on the way Sasuke peeled away from the bark and relaxed his arms to his sides. “Spar with me instead.”

And, well. Naruto wasn't going to complain. Sakura was a fun opponent— it felt _good_ to teach her something, too, instead of just learning from her all the time—

But, Sasuke? Sasuke was _more_ than a challenge— Naruto couldn’t keep up with him even when using clones, and Sasuke hadn’t yielded to anyone but _Kakashi_ when one on one. Even when he was still hurt from their fight in the Wave, he hadn't been forced to yeild by Naruto.

That didn’t mean Naruto would back down, though. That just meant he had to work _harder_ to get _better_.

If Sasuke was offering _now_ , though… that meant—

“You can activate them, then? And _keep_  them activated?”

Sasuke nodded, focusing on Naruto’s eyes before his own swirled from black to _red._

(Flashes of the bridge and the _voice_ flickered through his mind, but they were gone in an instant.)

Naruto smiled, feeling a familiar anticipation begin to wash over him. “That is _so_ cool. Are we going ‘till submission or till blood or what?”

“…Just a three second pinfall, this time. Anything goes. Sakura, can you say ‘go’ for us?”

She looked up from her book, taking a moment to register his words before responding. “Oh! Yeah.”

They positioned themselves across from each other, a few paces away, and Sasuke had to cough to get Sakura’s attention again. “Sorry, sorry. You guys ready?”

Sasuke nodded, and Naruto did too, a smile splitting his face. It felt like it had been too long since he’d really let loose— Sasuke hadn’t been a _real_ part of sparring in _weeks_ , and while Kakashi had started amping up their training, it was mostly _teamwork_ based stuff.

 _“You’ll need to rely on your teammates if you’re going to make it through the Exams,”_ Kakashi had said, when Naruto argued against it. He guessed he could understand, but it was so _boring_ when it was obvious the team would succeed.

He needed a _challenge_ , like this, to really focus. He felt his chakra buzzing at his fingers, and he couldn’t wait to let loose.

(Part of him felt... off, somehow. He ignored it.)

Closing his eyes for a moment, he sent a thought (or, prayer?) to his god— or, he tried to, at least— asking for help. Maybe, if they helped, he could even _win_ for once.

He felt no response.

There never was, when he asked— the only times he had heard the voice, after that the first time, were small pointers during training, like whatever it was just… _watched_ him, to make sure he didn't fuck up too badly.

It never answered his questions, though.  _Rude_ , he thought pointedly into the back of his mind.

“Go!”

Naruto moved his hands at the same time Sasuke did, and he  _knew_ what was going to happen, could recognize what a tiger seal meant. He pulled more than the chakra he knew he needed in response, tried to force the excess down his arms, and when his seal formed he was already darting out of the way of the huge ball of _heat_ aimed straight for him.

Naruto dropped his hand to his leg for a kunai while a shadow clone manifested on either side of him, each rushing forward as soon as they had the legs to do so.

His clones, he knew, wouldn’t last long— Sakura kept telling him that he needed to make his clones with _intention_ , and he _would_ , but they bought him the time he needed to figure out what he wanted the next ones to do. He made another set of clones— two on the right, this time— while Sasuke pushed one out of the way and stabbed the other with a kunai. It dispelled, and Naruto felt the phantom pain shock through his chest, next to his pounding heart.

He needed to get close to Sasuke to pin him, but a close-range fireball would _hurt_. Think, think, think—

Naruto saw the kunai aimed for _him,_ not the middle clone ( _D_ _amn_ , how did Sasuke already know?) and deflected it, bracing himself for the punch that he saw Sasuke getting ready for. Sasuke was fast— he didn’t even take care of the other clone, just pushed past it straight to Naruto with determined, scarlet eyes.

Naruto saw Sasuke shift into a slide, and he fell a moment later, cursing loudly as his feet were swept out from under him. That was a move he should have seen coming, should have been able to dogde— and yet, his legs had stuck a moment too long.

One of the clones grabbed Sasuke’s arm to prevent him from _already_ pinning Naruto and got a heavy punch in return (and Naruto didn’t need to  _see_  it to know what happened, could  _feel_  his clones). It held form, though, despite the damage, while the last clone went to pull Sasuke's ankle with it's heel.

He jumped over that like he saw it coming— maybe he _did_ , did the Sharingan _work_ like that?— and used his caught arm to tug the clone attached to it up and then over and then _down_ , the impact making it _poof_ into smoke.

“Is that all you’ve got, Naruto?” Sasuke taunted while he dodged a punch from the other clone, and Naruto got to his feet, narrowed his eyes and met Sasuke's.

Sasuke looked _tired_ , already, despite how little time had passed, and Naruto felt like maybe, just maybe, he had a shot at this. Even _if_ he was going to _lose_ , like he always did, he was going to put up a fight.

“Shut _up_ ,” was his retort, punctuated by the fist he threw into Sasuke’s face. He moved out of it’s way, but Naruto saw that coming, watched the clone's kick force Sasuke to block the knee Naruto threw. The first clone that Sasuke had avoided  _finally_ moved up, then, and Sasuke took in a sharp breath when _it’s_ kick managed to grase him, forced him to dodge _farther_ forward into the real Naruto, who took the opportunity to suplex him over his head.

Sasuke coughed when he hit the ground, but his hands formed another _tiger_ , and Naruto had to roll backwards to avoid getting burned. _Damn it_.

One of the remaining clones punched Sasuke through it instead— Naruto’s skin tingled as it burned and displelled, and he threw his kunai to free up his hands for a specific flurry of seals.  _Tiger-boar-ox-dog—_

He felt rather than saw the way the last clone slammed Sasuke back into the ground, knocking the wind out of him, and then Naruto finished  _snake_ and an instant later he holding Sasuke to the ground, rather than his clone.

“Got you, bast—” he started, staring straight into Sasuke’s eyes, but cut off when his shoulders hit the ground behind him. The air rushed out of his lungs and he forgot how to breathe, for a moment.

He realized, too late, that he hadn’t had the time to bare down well enough to keep Sasuke from pushing forward, who used the opportunity to switch their positions. Naruto tried to wrap his legs around his neck, but Sasuke pulled his arm into an uncomfortable lock, and even before the three seconds were up Naruto knew he couldn’t move, knew he was beat. His thighs fell heavy on top of Sasuke’s, and as he relaxed as much as he could into the pose he was forced into.

He could have done more, maybe, if he wasn’t distracted by the way the commas in Sasuke’s eyes moved, in a lazy circle around the pupil. It was hard to look away, and he felt the adrenaline leave his body like it was being forced out. He  _had_ broken holds like this before, after all— there was just something, about the way Sasuke had him held, that kept him from moving.

“Got _you_ , idiot,” Sasuke said, leaning close, cheeks flushed from exertion before he loosened his hold and let his arms brace on either side of Naruto, signifying the end of the fight. He had a— a _smile_ , small and smug, and normally that would make Naruto angry— which, well, he _was_ , because _how_ did he let himself get pinned this fast? It was _never_ this fast.

More than that, though, it reminded him of how… tired, and hot, he felt. How hard he was breathing. How much he liked Sasuke’s eyes, like this, with their mesmerizing swirl and intensity. He couldn’t stop looking at them if he tried, right now, forgetting the urge to blink.

His eyes were _pretty. He_ looked _pretty_. Not in the way girls like Sakura or Ino were— not like his _sexy_ brand of transformation. More like Haku, after they fought. Though, maybe pretty wasn't the word— Naruto felt his mind running away from him, a bit, and he couldn't remember the word he wanted, why he wanted it. Not  _handsome…_ Naruto gave up on the thought, staring into the Sharingan, wondering why he couldn't look away.

**FOOLISH.**

Naruto sucked in a staccato breath. _Now_ , of all times, the god— or whatever it was— spoke to him? _After_ he lost? With frustration, he thought— hard as he could— _I could have won._

 **NO, BOY. THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT. THE SHARINGAN MAKES NO EASY FOE… I KNOW THIS ALL TOO WELL. BE GRATEFUL IT IS YOUR** **_COMRADES_ ** **THAT OWN THEM.** **THOUGH, I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED THIS ONE BE** **_ONLY_ ** **A COMRADE…**

Confused, Naruto tried to sink deeper, despite holding Sasuke’s gaze. Tried to reach for that place he remembered, wondering why the voice in his head decided that the first time it'd _respond_ to him, it would suggest that he shouldn’t be friends with his teammates.

**THAT IS NOT WHAT I…**

Naruto swore he could feel the impression of _laughter_ in the back of his mind, and he elected to ignore it. If the possibly-god wasn’t going to help him and it wasn’t going to _actually_  answer him, then he didn’t need to listen.

 **YOU CAN’T IGNORE** **_ME_** **, BRAT! EARLIER YOU WERE** **_BEGGING_ ** **FOR MY HELP!**

 _Yeah, well, not if you’re going to be an asshole_ , he thought, and shut him out of his mind. If he could stick his tongue out in his thoughts, he would have.

Plus, he was getting…  _tired_. Sasuke hadn’t moved to get up yet, and the grass was comfortable at Naruto’s back. Maybe if he just— closed his eyes, for a moment, he could center himself and get up. Sasuke looked tired, too. Maybe they could just… rest, for a second longer, before getting back to real training.

"Naruto?" Sasuke was leaning in close, again, and Naruto would have sworn he saw concern in his features if he wasn't sure Sasuke just wanted him to get up.

"Gimme… one sec. 'Kay?" Naruto felt the lazy smile on his face, one that made Sasuke furrow his brow.

The last thing Naruto saw before his mind shut off was the slowing, hypnotic rotation of the Sharingan.

* * *

 “Release!”

Naruto jerked awake, moving to sit up and hitting his skull against something hard about halfway through the movement.

“Ow! You _moron_ , that _hurt!_ ”

The punch to his shoulder— _that_ hurt a lot more than his head did, and if the voice didn't tip him off, he'd have known it was Sakura from _that_ — got him to open his eyes.

He was still lying in the middle of the field, but now Sakura was kneeling over him, rubbing her forehead, while Sasuke stood to the side. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked like he hadn’t _just_ been in a fight with Naruto. It was short, but Sasuke looked tired by the end of it. How did he look _fine_ now?

“He’s awake now, Kakashi,” he said, looking at the ground.

Naruto blinked. _Awake?_

“Maa, Sasuke, you’ll have to learn how to control that. And it’s Kakashi- _sensei._  Don’t be a brat.”

( _Brat_ , his voice had called him.)

“Control what?” Naruto asked, feeling awful out of the loop.

He _hated_ that feeling.

“The Sharingan’s genjutsu,” Kakashi-sensei replied, and Naruto felt even more lost. Kakashi sighed (why was _he_ always making Kakashi sigh like that?) before he squat next to Naruto and explained, “Remember my fight with Zabuza? How I copied his moves _before_ he did them?”

Naruto nodded, recalling the water dragon that had formed before Zabuza’s had the time to. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but _now_ …

“The Sharingan are known for more than their ability to recall things, Naruto. They're directly linked to the brain, so their abilities work best with the chakra stored there. The same chakra used for and affected by genjustu." Kakashi tapped on his hitai-ate, right over where his eye was. “I was actually using that against Zabuza to influence his movements. The next time we fought, he used the mist helped dampen the effects— you need to lock eyes to use the Sharingan properly, after all. Sasuke doesn’t have full control over his yet, so he unconsciously used genjutsu to put you to sleep.”

“That’s—” Naruto wanted to say _cheating_ , but it wasn’t, really. He frowned. That must have been how he lost so quickly— Sasuke _made_ him lose.

And then… made him unconscious. Unconsciously.

Then again, it was  _Naruto_ who kept looking him in the eye, so, maybe it was more his fault than he was willing to admit.

Sasuke looked anywhere but at Naruto, rose dusting his cheeks. “Idiot, I still _won_ ,” he huffed, like he knew what Naruto was thinking. And, maybe he did— his eyes were still red, and Naruto didn’t know if Sharingan could read minds.

(That voice was always talking to him like it could, anyway. He wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke could see into his, too.)

Naruto sat up, thinking before settling on, “How long was I out?”

Sakura stood up, smoothing out her shorts. “About an hour. We didn’t know what happened, and Sasuke—” she grinned in his direction, and Sasuke seemed to get _more_ red, to Naruto’s utter surprise— “He was _worried_ he did something _wrong_ , so he—”

“ _Sakura_ ,” Sasuke ground out, and she quickly shut her mouth. A smirk remained.

Naruto wished he could learn more, but he was bust thinking about Sasuke’s eyes and wondering  _why_ his Sharingan was still _active_ if they had been done fighting for so long.

Sakura giggled, and he realized he had wondered that out loud. “He couldn't—”

Sasuke glared at her, and she really stopped quick this time, features schooling into quiet, mild amusement.

Kakashi answered before Naruto could interpret that. “I told you, he doesn’t have full control over them yet.” To Sasuke, he added, “They should get tired eventually, though, if you can’t get your eyes to revert back to normal. Your chakra should be replenished enough by now, anyway.”

Sasuke nodded, looking back to the ground between his feet.

“Anyway, that shouldn’t stop us from training. The rest of your team needs to learn how to work around your eyes, after all. Why don’t we get started? I think a lesson in tracking might be useful, if you make through to the team portion of the exams.”

Naruto snorted. “So, a lesson in us trying to find you while you read porn in the woods—”

“Well, _Naruto_ , I don’t think it really matters _what_ I do in the woods if you can’t find me. But I don’t want you to track _me_. I want you to track my ninken.”

And then Kakashi took out a kunai, cut open his thumb, smeared the blood over his fingers, made a few hand seals and hit his hand to the ground.

When the smoke cleared, three dogs sat in front of them at what Naruto considered… attention? They reminded him of Akamaru, except Akamaru didn’t wear clothes.

The smallest one— they didn’t look like what Naruto would consider… agile, or strong, barked— no, _said_ — “What’s with the small team, Kakashi?” and, well. Akamaru didn’t do _that_ either. Point one for Smallest.

Kakashi crouched, but he was still over a foot taller than Smallest. “I only need a few for this. It’s nothing intense, Pakkun, don’t worry. I want you three,” he said, pointing to the trio of dogs, “to make yourself scarce for my genin. They’ll be tracking you through the forest today. Go easy on them, won’t you?”

The one with _shinobi_ written into their forehead swished their tail and stood up. “You know they won’t stand a chance, right?”

“I _said_ , go _easy_ on them, Bisuke. If they can’t find you by nightfall—”

“ _Nightfall?_ ” Naruto interrupted, because— well, they always went to the _library_ , these days, how was he supposed to study if he was out _here_ — but, come _on_. They’d tracked animals before, right? It never took them that long. Recently, at least.

So what if the first few times they went after the same cat in the woods they were out there all day? They were good enough at tracking _now_ that they should be able to do well against these dogs, even if they were ninken.

It helped, that he could make them an army of his clones to find them, once they got on the trail. When stealth wasn't an issue.

“Don’t worry, Naruto. You’ll be working as a team, and I’m _sure_ it’ll be easy enough for you. That’s _their_ mission. Right, Bisuke?”

The dog sighed— like,  _human_ sighed, not  _dog_ sighed—before nodding, while the other two followed him to their feet.

Smallest— _Pakkun_ , Kakashi had said— “We’ll keep him in check, Kakashi.”

The grey dog, the one with a mohawk, said nothing, and Naruto wondered if they could _all_ speak. This one hadn’t said a word, yet, so maybe it hadn't learned how to. How could _dogs_ learn how to talk, anyway?

Sakura, with a pensive look, asked, “Kakashi, your ninken— they’re summons?”

“That they are.”

“But… not from a scroll.”

“That is correct, Sakura.”

“So— does that mean, um. What I’m trying to ask is… they’re not really _ninken_ , then, are they? They’re spirits.”

Kakashi quirked his eyebrow up, and by now all of Team 7 knew that was as questioning as his expressions got. “Maa, you know a lot about summoning, Sakura. You’re correct. My summons aren’t the same ninken that are bred in this village— these are contract spirits, made entirely of chakra. They’re more closely related to the summons of the Sannin than anything born in Konoha.”

“So you have a contract with them, then?”

“That’s right. If you don't mind, though, I'd like to know why you're asking.”

“Oh, I. I’ve just…" She clasped her hands together— it reminded him of the snake symbol when she did that— and looked away. "Um… I’ve been reading about fūinjutsu, lately. Contract scrolls came up.”

Kakashi ‘hmm’d. “How interesting. And what's the research for?”

“I’m— I just want to be prepared, for the Exams.”

Kakashi narrowed his eye at her, and she didn’t say anything else, just bit her lip and blinked down with wide eyes.

“…Spirits?” Naruto muttered. He couldn’t help but think of his _voice_ and wonder if maybe _that’s_ what spoke to him. Some kind of… chakra spirit.  But if that was the case, then why was it speaking to _him_?

Did it want to sign a contract or something?  _Why_ would it choose _Naruto_?

In that familiar whisper, he thought he heard,

 **A** **_CONTRACT_ ** **…? PERHAPS…**

“Yes, Naruto, spirits. Any more questions?”

Sakura shook her head, and Sasuke didn’t respond, still looking pointedly at the ground like it could open up if he looked hard enough. Maybe it _could_ , Naruto thought, remembering what Kakashi had said about the Sharingan. Maybe he could just… make the ground listen to him, or something.

Naruto wanted to ask what s _annin_ were, but the sounded familiar enough that he _should_ know what they were, so he stayed quiet. He could ask Sakura about it later.

He’d ask her about spirits, too. Maybe… maybe she would know something.

“Alright, then. Pakkun, Bisuke, Shiba— you know what to do.”

Pakkun gave one last nod, and then the ninken (or, dog spirits?) were gone faster than Naruto could see. He hadn't even stood up yet by the time they had left.

“…You all should probably try following them,” Kakashi suggested, and Naruto felt Sakura’s hand pulling him up by the arm and off into the forest, accompanied by her yelling, "Come _on_ Naruto!" He grabbed Sasuke when he got to his feet, tugging him along as they ran after the pack.

This would be _easy_. They'd be done by noon,  _tops_.

* * *

 They didn’t manage to find them until sundown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, sasuke accidentally overrused his special eyes the first time he voluntarily activated it, yes, that meant he couldn't shut them off, and no, he does not want you to make fun of him for it no matter how funny it is  
> the chunin exams are fast aproaching! look forward to team 7 attempting to socialize and failing miserably :)
> 
> note: i've switched around and updated the tags to better reflect where the fic is at now and where it's going!
> 
> <3 thank you for all of the comments and kudos so far! <3
> 
> edit 5/26/19: added one sentence and fixed minor formatting issues


	5. water moccasin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which the Chunin Exams begin.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [blanket orochimaru warning for like. vague body horror. the usual]

Getting used to the Sharingan, it was—

 _Overwhelming_ , to say the least.

When he was sparring— if he could even call it that— with Naruto, the way everything seemed to fall into place seemed too _easy_. Like he already knew what would happen. Realizing that _ease_ was because Sasuke was, in essence, _controlling_ him? Influencing his moves, relaxing him to the point of sleep?

 _That_ was why why the Sharingan was feared.

He hadn’t even _realized_ he was leading Naruto until Kakashi explained it to Sakura. Yet, looking back, that’s exactly what it was. Imagining trying to face off against _that?_  In a _real_ battle?

It sounded impossible.

(And, maybe it was. There was a _reason_ he had to kill his brother himself, other than his obligations to his clan. Himself, now, with all of them gone.)

But as powerful as the Sharingan was, it was _exhausting_ , and it was something he needed to learn how to control. Especially the more taxing aspects of it— _minutes_ of keeping it active against Naruto had him catching his breath when they finally stopped. He usually had the stamina for _hours_ of training before he was breaking a real sweat.

He wouldn’t stand more than a second against Kakashi, at this rate.

Learning to minimize his chakra output was surprisingly straightforward. It took him only one morning with Kakashi (while Naruto and Sakura studied— although, was fūinjutsu _really_ going to be on the exam?) to learn how to lesson the toll it took on his— entire body. How to stop from using everything at once.

Now, the day before the first Exam, he felt comfortable with his ability to activate and deactivate his eyes at will without unconsciously slipping and using genjutsu or seeing chakra.

He would  _not_ be stuck seeing red for  _hours_ again, like he had when he  _embarassed_ himself in front of everyone. And they didn't realize the _extent_ of it.

Things like the assault on his awareness, though, took some… significant adjustment. Seeing everything as if each detail held the same weight, from the patchwork stitching on Naruto's jacket to the way his muscles tensed before he moved to how many _leaves_ there were on the tree Sakura sat under— he knew he would get used to it, _eventually_ , if he kept using the Sharingan.

That didn’t mean it was any easier to handle _now_ , while he tried to utilize his eyes for some last-minute studying. It was hard to zero in on the words while his eyes wanted to absorb _everything_ — he had never been so aware of how many things he had in his apartment until now.

(How empty it felt, compared to the home he used to have.)

He was _prepared_ , of course, but… He could admit, to himself, that he was nervous. He knew he _had_ to pass this. If he could manage to make chūnin _now_ , with so little time as a genin—

That _meant_ something. And he could learn _more_ , as a chūnin. Had access to more missions, more jutsu, more respect. It would _help_.

So he used this last bit of time to study. He kept the lights off— the moonlight wouldn't normally be enough to read, but the Sharingan enhanced night vision, and the near-pitch of the room helped him block out the details in his apartment. It was hard to focus on them when half of them were too dark to perceive, after all.

The most exhausting part of using the Sharingan, though, was the _memories_.

Sasuke had read _so much_ about the perfect recall the Sharingan granted— a sort of eidetic memory, but far more vivid and versatile. And, he _had_ memories, from when he fought against Haku in his barrier of ice. Flickers of time that felt too clear, that he could remember like he was transplanted back into the moment, feeling the same feelings and thinking the same thoughts.

It was— intense, and overwhelming, being able to _feel_ the fear he felt, when he realized he was too _slow_ to keep up with his eyes against an onslaught of senbon. He avoided thinking about it when he could.

Especially the moment his Sharingan had opened up. That was the clearest of them all. Far too clear to be  _just_ a memory, even compared to those made _with_ the Sharingan.

 _Everything_ he saw with the Sharingan had a fierce clarity to it, but  _these_ moments— they were real enough that he forgot where he was, for a moment, when he slipped into them.

It was vivid as his last memory of Itachi.

Realizing he had unlocked the Sharingan _earlier_ , when his _clan_ had been… it stung. _All this time_ —

But, he had too many tomoe to be from just that. He _had_ gained another, in his right eye, on that bridge. The flood of _protect_ and _precious_ and _home_ that thrummed through his veins, accompanied by the cold chill of blood loss that came with the memory— the _more_ than memory— that made it abundantly clear as to _why_ the tomoe had formed.

His— _Itachi's_  voice came to mind, and he ignored it. He already knew his team was family to him. Naruto… he had always held a strange place in Sasuke's life, anyway. Naruto felt like _Konoha_ incarnate, like a living Will of Fire. Dying for him would have been... powerfully symbolic, but all together a waste.

Protecting the village involved _much_ more than keeping one person alive.

(Itachi proved that when he spared Sasuke's life.)

He had a fourth tomoe, though. Gained during of his _latest_ more-than-memory.

Sasuke had _dreamt_ , yesterday _—_ for the first time, since— Itachi. _Dreamt_ instead of falling asleep to be met with nightmares or nothingness.

(Met with bodies and blood and big brother.)

It hadn’t _really_ been a dream, though— it was a perfect memory.

Of training. Of _Naruto_ (and of _course_ it _had_ to be _him_ ), in the field, when Sasuke put him to sleep.

He remembered the way his eyes (so _blue_ , more vibrant than the sky, more like drops of the ocean with flecks of glitter and green and gold) fluttered shut (he had long eyelashes, a shade darker than his mess of hair, that cast shadows that betrayed where the sun was, just above the canopy of trees.)

How even his breathing became (through his nose, not his mouth— he slept surprisingly quiet, for someone so loud), and the warmth he held (the skin on his arm, the one Sasuke had held locked, was tan and rough and held no scars— another surprise, knowing Naruto.)

He remembered the _shift_ in his eye, as another tomoe formed, accompanied by the spike of  _Oh no_.

Fine. Sakura _was_ right, he _had_ been concerned, had worried he did something _wrong_. He was so aware of how _alive_ Naruto was, at all times, how much he moved— and beneath Sasuke, he was breathing, his pulse jumped through his wrists. He looked _fine._

But Sasuke still worried he did something. He didn’t know _what_ , but he knew Naruto shouldn’t have passed out from that amount of sparring. It should have been a joke to _Sasuke_ , so how could _Naruto_ be _tired?_ He was _never_ tired.

But, in the end, it hadn’t been the concern that made his tomoe swirl into existence, marking the moment into his mind.

The feeling of complete and utter _embarrassment_ (he felt that _then_ and _now_ ) had overtaken it when he realized—

(He couldn’t control his clan’s _legacy_ during a _spar_ , and what a joke _that’d_ make him if they weren’t all _gone_ —)

He kept reliving the stutter in his breath when he realized— gods, he was an idiot.

 _Such_ an _idiot_. The biggest idiot alive.

Wasn’t _Naruto_ the one who was supposed to have a crush on _him?_ _He_ was the one who had had kissed _Sasuke_ , after all— Sasuke still wasn't sure, if that was on purpose or not, but Naruto had never exactly  _apologized_ or every  _addressed_ it. What _else_ was Sasuke supposed to think?

And yet.

It was only a few seconds, but it ran on forever. The shift from looking at Naruto’s eyes to his mouth— his _lips_ — the terrible swell in his chest, the rising heat in his face, the whirl of his tomoe— the  _horror_ at what it  _meant—_ it replayed, over and over and over and over and—

His eyes refocused on the page in front of him, and he realized he had slipped back into the memory. _Again_.

_Damn it._

That was the third time already _tonight_. He knew it happened so frequently because he was using the Sharingan— but, if he couldn't learn to use it without remembering  _that_  moment— Then how was he supposed to use it at all?

_Get a hold of yourself, Uchiha._

Sasuke shifted and pushed yesterday out of his mind— he could think about it _later_ , when he wasn’t so pressed for time to study. He could worry about what it _meant_ to have half of his tomoe— and those were _important_ , they marked _milestones_ , his brother had _stressed_ , his brother had _killed_ — based around the stupid blonde  _idiot_ on his team.

The Exam was _tomorrow_. He needed to be _prepared._

(He wondered if Itachi had his memories replay like this, too.)

* * *

When Sasuke arrived at the exams, he didn’t expect to meet _Hyūga Neji_ , face to face.

It was obvious who he was— there was no mistaking those eyes for anything other than Byakugan, and Sasuke made a _point_ of knowing about the Hyūga clan and its branches. They were— are?— something of rivals to the Uchiha, at least politically. As technical head of his clan (of _one_ , he thought, bitterly), he had to _know_ these things. Had known them before he could speak, with his family being who they were. Are.

But there he was, standing between a kunoichi that that looked awful armed to the teeth for a pen and paper test and a shinobi with the _most_ ridiculous green jumpsuit he could have imagined— though, he thought he had seen that around the village somewhere before…?

And, of course, he also wore orange. Why was it always orange? Who even  _likes_ orange?

Sasuke felt _good_ that he was bordered on the left by Sakura, who looked uncharacteristically _confident_. She even had her hair tied back into a bun, instead of down and hiding her face. He thought he liked it more like this— It looked a little more serious, which suited her nicely. Plus, the better it made her look, the better he looked in return.

And then, to his right.

Naruto.

(Sea eyes, slack curls, soft lips—)

For all his boasting, he looked pretty terrified of the only part of the Exam that couldn’t kill them.

Sasuke wasn’t scared— maybe _apprehensive_ , but he wasn’t _afraid_ in any sense— if anything, he was getting a bit annoyed that the Hyūga was bold enough to ask him for his name.

As if he didn’t _know_ , already. The whole _village_ seemed _intimately_ _acquainted_ with the fate of him and his clan.

But, of course he was going to respond. It’d be _rude_ , to treat the branch family without respect in a place so _public_. Sasuke didn’t care much for social graces, but he had a _reputation_ to uphold.

 _"See to it that you do_."

He would.

The Hyūga asked _him_ to introduce himself, after all.

“We both know you’re aware of who I am, _Hyūga_. Uchiha Sasuke, head of the Uchiha clan.”

When Naruto’s jaw _dropped_ and Sakura took in a small gasp, Sasuke _really_ had to fight the smug grin. He didn’t want the Hyūga to see it. He knew Sakura was aware, only because he had  _reminded_  her a few days ago, but Naruto probably didn't realize his role. His, albeit not all that useful, status.

(He would _not_ admit, to anyone, that it felt _good_ to hold that kind of power, in a title. He _liked_  that. But he would let his team see it, at least. _Wanted_ them to, even.)

“Care to extend the same courtesy?” And, well, Sasuke could tell by the face the Hyūga made that he sounded a little too pleased with himself. The other boy, the one in green, seemed to get a little more serious, too, but the girl… she looked amused.

With him or with her teammate, Sasuke didn’t know.

“...Hyūga _Neji_. As you are... _apparently_ aware.” _Oh,_  that’s _irritation_ he hears. Of course, as a member of a branch, he didn’t have any claim to the clan to add.

Naruto, clueless as he was, cut the growing silence with, “What, that’s _it?_ No fancy title? C’mon, Sasuke, can we go now? I wanna get this over with.”

“ _Naruto_ ,” Sakura warned, at the same time Jumpsuit said, “Do _not_ speak to Neji that way! He is deserving of your _utmost_ respect, not only as—”

“ _Lee_ ,” went Weapons, with her hand on  _Lee's_ shoulder _._

Sasuke wondered if anyone else felt déjà vu.

(Though, imagining Naruto defending Sasuke’s _honor_ , based on _principal…_ that was an amusing thought. Not quite the same, then.)

“Oh yeah? Alright then, Bushy Brows, why doesn’t he _prove_ it?” There Naruto went, posturing despite Lee being at least a head taller.

“Neji has _no_ _need_ to prove himself against you!"

“No offense, Brows," Naruto interrupts, as per usual, "but I’m pretty sure Neji over here couldn’t do _shit_ against me in a fight.”

“ _I_ will fight you _myself_ , if that’s what it takes—”

The girl cut in, again, with, “ _Lee!_ We can’t fight _now_ — what would _Guy-sensei_ —”

“But, Tenten—”

“ _Lee_.”

He quieted, then, and left everyone in an uncomfortable silence.

“Well,” Naruto huffed. “I’m _Uzumaki Naruto_ , for your information. _Future_ _Hokage_ , and you better  _believe_ that'll happen.”

The Hyūga scoffed. “As if they would let _you_ , of all people, be Hokage.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Naruto nearly  _snarled_ that, fist curled tight as he turned to face Hyūga.

Lee stepped  _between_ them, and he took a stance that was clearly for taijutsu.

 _Of all people_. Why would Hyūga say that? What _grounds_ does he have to say _that?_

Lee went, “I  _will_ _—_ ”

But Sakura cut him off with a _finger_ in his chest, and he saw Naruto laugh at the pure _surprise_ on Lee's face. “Oh, shut up, _brows_. Come on, Naruto. Sasuke. We shouldn’t let ourselves be late for the Exam because of _this._ ” He heard the edge in her voice— it was good to know she was following him in anger, at least— and he had to agree with that. He took a step past the others, and he couldn’t help but grin, small and to himself, when Sakura and Naruto followed his lead.

It felt _good_ , having his team— literally— backing him up.

He just hoped he could keep _this_ family _safe_. He would do _whatever_ it took.

* * *

“Did you even answer a single question?” Sasuke asked, once they got out of the Academy, following the lead of the second proctor.

She was… something else, that’s for sure. Intimidating, but he could only take her so seriously, after she burst into the room before her cue.

Far less serious than Morino Ibiki, but, that test had turned out to be a joke _anyway_. He wondered if they’d use their end scores for anything at all, or if it was all supposed to be based on espionage.

Sakura had answered every question on her own, after all. Sasuke knew she did, because he had _cheated_ off of _her_.

He wished it counted for something.

“Nah,” Naruto replied, and Sakura looked ready to hit him for it. “Don’t give me that look! I knew some of the answers, okay, but I figured I only _needed_ to get one question right for us to _pass_ , and I wanted to know the last question before I decided to risk cheating. I _would_ have, okay! Hinata even _offered_ her answers to me— and I think they were right? Well, I _know_ they were right, but, that’s not the point— she seems _nice_. She was in our class, remember? But she’s so _quiet_ , so if you forgot her I wouldn’t be surpri—”

“Naruto,” Sakura said, breaking off his tangent. “If she _offered_ them they were probably _fake_.”

“I _know_ they weren’t fake, okay? I— you know what? Whatever.” Huh. How unlike him, to drop a subject.

That was fine, because Sasuke had a question for him. He had said— “Did you say _Hinata?_  As in, _Hyūga_ Hinata? Possible _heir?_ ”

“Wait, she’s a _Hyūga?_ Does that mean—”

Sakura murmured, “It means the answers were probably fake,” and she crossed her arms.

“No, they _weren’t_ — I mean, that means— she and Neji—”

“Yes, Naruto.” Sasuke sighed. Why couldn’t he just jump to these conclusions in his head? “Hyūga Neji is her _cousin_. Half brother, in a way. Their fathers were twins.”

“So that means he could be heir _too_ , right? Why didn’t he—”

“That’s not how it _works_. He’s a part of the branch family, because _his_ father was born second. He’ll never have a chance at inheriting the clan.”

Naruto frowned, and took a moment before continuing. “Huh. Well. _That_ sucks. I guess I’d have a stick up my ass, too, if I was given one so short—”

Sakura huffed. “ _Naruto!_ ”

“ _What?_ ”

She gave him a _look_ , but quickly looked away. She didn’t like it when they swore, which was laughable, considering how she could get when she was pissed enough. Especially with Ino, when she thought they weren't around to listen.

Sasuke thought there was more there, though, in the way she turned timid.

She had looked the same way when she asked Sasuke to keep Naruto in the dark about the books he got her. Sasuke _was_ a clan head, so he technically could access the lower levels of the library— she looked so _surprised_ at forgetting when he mentioned it to her, the first morning she broke their morning routine. He had offered to grab the books on Uzumaki she was looking for, when she explained that she was trying to find out more about Naruto’s clan.

Sasuke wondered if Naruto was a clan head, too— hadn’t most Uzumaki dropped their surnames or turned civilian, after Uzushio's collapse? He was curious about where Naruto stood. Maybe that was why Hinata (and she was _Hinata_ , not _Hyūga_ , to him— they were peers long enough for him to be _Sasuke_ over _Uchiha_ to her, he figured) would help Naruto. Something political, maybe?

Whatever. He couldn’t wonder about this right now, when Mitarashi Anko was explaining the Team Exam. He had to know what to do.

He _could_ _not_ fail.

* * *

“Sorry I took so long,” Sakura said, with a scowl, when she arrived at the gate they chose to enter by. Something about her appearance was… different, but Sasuke couldn’t place it. “I got a little caught up.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Ino?”

She nodded, looking surprised. “...She was one reason. How’d you guess?”

“Your hitai-ate. Wasn’t she the reason you wore it behind your bangs?”

 _Oh_ , Sasuke thought. It was _actually_ covering her forehead, right now.

How could Naruto catch things like _that_ , and nothing else?

Sakura sighed. “Yeah. She said… it looked better when I didn’t try and hide it. And _now_ , she just—” She frowned, worrying her lip with her hands clasped at her waist. “Whatever.”

“I mean,” and Naruto was smiling, soft and encouraging. “She _was_ right. It _does_ suit you more that way. _But_ , I like the idea of us all wearing them the right way, during the rest of the Exam, ‘cause we're representing our _village_ — Plus, we’re _already_ going to be the best looking team in the forest, anyway— I mean, _look_ at us.” He gestured up and down, and Sasuke wished his brother would walk right through the gate and kill him for the  _horrible_ thought of _he’s right_.

(Sea eyes, stupid curls, _stupid_ lips— stupid, stupid, stop _thinking_ about it—)

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure  _Sasuke_ has the whole 'function over form' thing going on,” and, he didn’t know if that was an insult or not— but her quick side eye told him it _was_ a joke, and he let out a quiet breath of laughter.

He _liked_ this Sakura. She seemed to have gotten over her schoolgirl crush after all.

(That makes _one_ of them.)

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Naruto. You are wearing. _All. Orange!_ During the _Chūnin Exams!_ ”

“... _And?_ You tryin’ to say it doesn’t _look_ good? Because—”

“You know that’s not what I meant!”

“Well, what do you want me to do, go home and _change?_ Buy different clothes? It’s not my fault the cheapest ones are all _orange—_ it looks _fine_ , no, _great_ , actually—”

“That’s the  _least_ stealthy thing you could wear for this!”

Sasuke shook his head, laughing quietly.

“Don’t _laugh_ , Sasuke, this is _serious_ — Sakura is being a _bitch_ —”

“I swear to— I’ll _kill_ you before that forest has a _chance_ to!”

Sometimes, Sasuke wished he had a different team.

(He didn’t, though. Not anymore. Not really.)

* * *

A couple hours later, and Team 7 was deep in the Forest of Death, their Heaven scroll safely tied against Sasuke’s thigh. Sakura had suggested he take it— he was the fastest on the team, and the Sharingan would better help him keep out of sight if their position ever got compromised.

They were running through the trees at a pace that was _definitely_ too fast to keep up for much longer, straight towards to center of the forest.

They had a plan. One that _Naruto_ had suggested— or, at least, beginnings of it.

_“Guys, why don’t I just send my clones through the forest to look for teams? If make them while holding our scroll, we can use them as bait, and then we’ll know where to look for an Earth scroll, 'cause I can, like, see through them, kind of? It's perfect!”_

Sasuke noticed him begin to _focus_ , now that they were inside of the forest. Sasuke knew he worked well when faced with a challenge— the idea of spending five days in a forest, fending for themselves, against who knows how many more teams that could be looking for their scroll? Naruto  _lived_ for these kinds of things.

And Sasuke just... _knew_ , by the way Naruto stopped fidgeting and started _listening_ , that he took this more seriously.

(It reminded him of training on the Wave mission. Naruto, when he got like this— _this_ was the Naruto that beat Haku where Sasuke couldn’t. This Naruto could _fight_.)

So Team 7 used Naruto’s clones to search through the forest, while _they_ made their way towards the tower. Sakura made a good argument for why they should as soon as possible.

_“That’s a strategy, you know— Kabuto was explaining it, before Ino interrupted. Teams will sit near the tower and try to ambush others for their scrolls, right near the end. We should get there before anyone else, and let the teams come to us. We can lure teams right to us while they think they’re chasing our real scroll.”_

Sasuke thought it was a solid plan. They’d use the least amount of energy possible themselves, letting the clones do all the work, and they’d be able to set up traps where _everyone_ would be going. People would be coming to _them._  They would probably know from _where_. They would have the upper hand in every encounter, at least with information and prep time. It gave them the best shot of completing this as fast as possible with as little risk to themselves as they could get.

It _was_ a solid plan.

It did not account for their team being targeted. But, not their team— _Sasuke_.

The kunoichi in front of them— Sasuke’s sharingan activated on its own the moment he locked eyes with her. Everything happened so _fast_ — Naruto said one of his clones spotted a team, and then came the burst of wind that cut through the trees made his ears ring. When he looked up Naruto was _gone._ Sakura was next to him—

And then Naruto walked through the opening in the trees, and Sasuke froze in place.

First, he noticed the Heaven scroll— it couldn’t be Naruto, had to be either a clone or a transformation— and then he met their eyes.

_—Sakura, Sasuke, screaming, can’t escape, dying, dead dead dead—_

_This_ — this killing intent was so _strong_ , to root him in place like this. He had only ever felt it against _Zabuza_ before, and that was _nothing_ compared to the way _this_ felt. His Sharingan flashed to life, and he watched as the world dipped into red the way it always did when he was looking _deeper_ , looking for chakra. Looking through the disguise.

Sakura, next to him, was certainly the real her. But the Naruto in front of him— the chakra was— _wrong_ , and _more_ , somehow, and how could it be _more_ than  _Naruto_ who had all the stamina in the _world_ , and he knew he needed to tell Sakura to be on her guard—

The words caught in his throat. He felt like he was suffocating.

Genjutsu— even killing intent— shouldn’t get through the Sharingan. Not this easily. Not so  _much_.

“Woah, what was that?” The imposter said, sounding _so_ much like Naruto it _hurt_. Sasuke wanted them to stop wearing his face. It disgusted him. He hated it.

“Naruto, are you alright?” And Sakura took a step forward, before she looked up.

She too, stopped in place, when she met the imposter’s gaze. She was good with genjutsu, surprisingly good— that was obvious in her silent, impulsive _release_ , her ability to stay standing next to him. But it was clear that was a  _barely_ , from the way her whole body rocked. Sasuke was glad the Sharingan extended his peripheral enough to watch her, make sure she was okay.

Well. Alive. Neither of them were okay.

(Sakura was crying, actually, but he elected to ignore that, because the false-Naruto was a  _threat._ )

“Yeah, I’m fine. What was that all about?” The imposter kept the act up for a little longer, but the silence and stillness stretched on long enough to make what happened clear.

It must not have been a standard transformation, because instead of immediately dropping it, the smile shifted to unnatural too wide, their tongue too _long_ as it crept past their lips. “Oh, _drat_ ,” and Naruto’s voice began to fall away into something lower, something smoother. Not quite feminine, but distinctly not masculine— Sasuke didn’t know how to place it, and it put him more on edge.

Who  _were_ they?

They shrugged, taking a step forward. “I _must_ get better at concealing that— no fun playing the predator when I can’t even _chase_ my prey. Well, too late to go back now... I wonder if you'll strike back, when I do? You have a _Heaven_ scroll, after all. It’ll make such a nice pair with my Earth scroll, if you can get it.”

The imposter finally dropped the transformation, the rest of Naruto melting away.

They were— an _adult_. Clearly older than he was. Yet they— she?— looked both old and young as they pulled out their scroll, looking at it like they were sizing _it_ up. Sasuke couldn’t look away as they rose it over their head, and then their _tongue_  coiled around it like a _snake_ and _pulled it down their throat_.

Seeing that, the way their trachea bulged out around the too-large scroll, how the skin of their neck seemed close to tearing as it slowly went _down_ — he wanted to throw up.

Sakura fell to her knees beside him, and he wished he could help. Do _anything_ to help. But he _still_ couldn’t _move_.

The person sauntered forth, steps careful and slow as they spoke. “Sasuke, right? The _last_ _Uchiha_. Well... other than that  _brother_ , of yours." Another step. "I met him once, you know— he’s rather headstrong. Stubborn. _Nice_ enough to get me kicked out of— well, that’s neither here nor there, is it.”

He would have froze, then, even if the there was no killing intent.

If they were telling the truth, Sasuke needed to get out of here as _fast_ as _possible_. There was no question of a fight— if they had met Itachi, _talked_ to him, maybe _worked_ with him? Maybe _fought_ him, and _lived_ _?_  Sasuke— he wasn’t ready to face off against _this_. He needed more _time_ , more _power_ , more  _everything_ —

They pulled out two kunai, and he struggled to follow the motion, muscles fighting against the movement. He managed to get one out of his pack, but. He couldn't even lift it as defence.

Looking at him hold his shaky hand at his side, they looked... _dissapointed_. “I expected more of a challenge out of you.”

And then they threw their kunai at Sakura, and Sasuke stabbed himself in the leg.

The fear was replaced by _adrenaline_ , and he pulled Sakura up, watched as the— person, if they even _were_ a person— smiled and made no move to stop them.

 _I'm_ _going to die in this forest,_ he thought, as he ran as fast as he could.

* * *

“That wound is deep,” Sakura whispered, while they rested against the tree. His narrowed eyes kept her quiet, breathing too hard and fast to  _shh_ her, but he didn’t object as she took out her gauze and began wrapping his leg. It wouldn't help much, but it would keep him from dripping blood everywhere. They could be tracked, by that— he needed to let her do this, even if it slowed them down.

Sasuke wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't. He was exhausted— the Sharingan was draining all of his chakra, and he was too afraid to drop any of the defenses it granted to conserve energy.

And then Sakura _shreiked_  and there was a giant _snake_ — _how_ did he miss that, it was _huge_ , what was  _wrong_ with him— and he threw half his pack's weapons at it because he couldn't do anything else. Not right now.

When it dropped limp, it's spine opened up, like a flower made of skin. Out from it came— them.

The.

Gods, he didn’t even know what to think of them— her— it?— as. They didn't look human, any longer, sliding around the trees like they were as much of a snake as the one they came out of.

Maybe they were.

And then Sakura threw a shuriken, jumped in front of Sasuke like an _idiot_ and the— whatever it was— turned on her, and he couldn't move fast enough, couldn't do anything but watch as whatever they were up against came at her and he couldn't do anything but yell, "Wait!'

They halted in their tracks.

"You can just—  _have_ our scroll. Take it. Just. Leave us  _alone_. Please." And he threw it towards them, because he'd gladly fail the Exams this year if staying would cost him his _life_ , only for it to be grabbed by—

Was that… Naruto?

Red shades were ripped down over his vision, the Sharingan thrusting him into his chakra sight. But.

 _Was_ that _chakra?_

 _Naruto_. Naruto had… so much. So much _more_ , but some of it was _red_ , and— Where did it come from? Was that even _him?_

But Sasuke _knew_ it was him. There was no mistaking it. His chakra was _there_ — there was just.

More. Something _else_. Something unrecognizable.

“Sorry, slitherlips—” and,  _Damn it, Naruto,_ this  _really isn’t the time—_ “but you won’t be taking our scroll.”

“I won't?” And the sounded so _surprised_ , so  _mocking_. “Child, you know _nothing_ of what I can do.”

Naruto didn't back down. Sasuke wanted to warn him, tell him to run away— maybe Sasuke would _have_ to _die_ , this time, to help his team get away—

If he has to, he will. No question. In the moment, nothing is more important than them.

 _Slitherlips_ just laughed. “So, you escaped the first snake, I see. And another is dead. Well, they say third time's a charm.” They licked their lips, and summoned another giant snake, using the seal written into their arm.

So _that’s_ why it was so large. It was a  _summon_.

Sakura gasped, and she tugged _hard_ on Sasuke’s sleeve as she— frantically, as if her life depended on it— whispered, “That’s _Orochimaru_.”

Oh.

She couldn’t be serious.

“You can’t be serious.”

“She— er, he— is the only one to ever make contract with the snake spirits. Every other known attempt lead to death— It _has_ to be him, you should _know_ that— he’s one of the _Sannin_ , Sasuke. Why does he look like that? Why is he _here?_ ”

Well, that would explain how they met Itachi and lived.

Gods, did Itachi _send_ them (and he was _sticking_ to  _them_ , not  _him_ , they didn't look _human_ enough for anything else)? For _Sasuke?_

Why wouldn’t he come here himself?

But he didn’t have the time to worry about that, because a giant snake was coming right for him, and then—

Naruto was there, _holding it back._

 _I must have already died_ , he thought, blinking the red of his chakra-sight away. _This can’t be happening._

It just didn’t make sense— how could _Naruto_ stop a— a _building-size snake?_ With his _bare hands?_

“You’re not hurt, are ya? Scaredy-cat,” he said, back to Sasuke, and—

His eyes.

(Sea eyes—)

They were _red_.

Sasuke felt his tomoe spin, picking up on every detail of the moment. He wondered if he could control that, but he could figure that out if he was still alive after this.

How were they _red?_

And his— the marks on his cheeks, they never looked like that before. Were his teeth sharper, too? His nails?

(Sakura might be right about the Uzumaki having a kekkei genkai after all.)

Sasuke saw the snake’s tongue slip around Naruto’s arm, and he threw a kunai at it, but it did nothing to stop it from wrapping around Naruto. Pulling him up near Orochimaru. Holding him in place, as they spoke to him, said something he couldn't hear.

And then they took the scroll, and they burned it with their  _hand_ , and they were— readying… something, Sasuke didn’t know what.

“That’s a _sealing_ technique,” Sakura whispered. “What— what is he _doing?_ ”

Sasuke didn’t want to wait and find out.

So he scaled the snake and threw a shuriken at Orochimaru’s hand. They dodged it, but that’s what Sasuke was hoping for— the chakra thread attached to it gave him the perfect opportunity to yank their hand away, disrupting whatever jutsu they readied.

Except Orochimaru’s jutsu didn’t waver. Instead, they took hold of the thread with their other hand and pulled Sasuke to the snake at their feet, slamming their hand into—

The _seal_ that had apparently been on Naruto’s stomach this _whole_ time, except Sasuke had never seen it before, and he had _certainly_ seen Naruto’s bare stomach before.

It was something else to think of _later_ , because now Naruto was making an inhuman _scream_ like he was _dying_ , which he very well _could_ be, and Sasuke needed to get up and _do_ something, killing intent be damned.

Then Orochimaru threw Naruto away, and Sakura darted off to catch him. Sasuke _tried_ , too, but he was held back by a mass of snakes biting and pulling at his arm, and then Orochimaru was right next to him.

Were the _snakes_  coming  _out_ of him?

“You’ll seek out my power, after what's to be done is done,” they said, and bit the junction between shoulder and neck.

It felt like _fire_. No, worse— like _death_. Filling his body, taking over his senses, replacing everything else. The moment his Sharingan cut off, his awareness of everything but that  _feeling_ went away, amplifying the liquid agony in his veins.

His yell broke in half as he felt pain and pain and **pain** , and the world fell away to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this chapter was so long and followed in line with canon so closely— next chapter is where we finally see the beginnings of more divergance, so get ready for that!  
> a few notes:  
> -sasuke's 4th tomoe is never really explained so I did what I do best and made it gay  
> -if naruto has curls then his hair would narutally form into straight up ramen noodles and i find that hilarious, so it's my headcanon now  
> -just... imagine tenten keeping emotional support weapons on the ready at all times. think about it. it's good.  
> hope you all enjoyed!!! :) see you next time! <3 <3


	6. april showers, may flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which Sakura cares for her team.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did someone say they liked long chapters? :)  
> yeah, this one got out of hand. hope yall enjoy it <3

Everything had happened so _fast_ , and Sakura didn’t know what she was supposed to _do_ , in a situation like this.

 _Orochimaru_ — who was _here_ for some _gods forsaken_ reason, she couldn’t guess _why_ — had put a seal on Naruto’s stomach, and he let out such a terrible  _scream_ , but Sakura hadn’t the time to try and figure what had happened, what seal meant, why it  _hurt_  him and made him go  _unconcious._

No, she was busy running to catch him from falling to his _death._

That meant she had been forced to leave Sasuke’s side, though. Sasuke who had a _deep_ wound in his leg, who had lost a lot of blood, who she didn’t want to leave alone. He could lose his footing, and then were would that put them? _All_ out of the trees, tumbling to their deaths?

Then _Sasuke_ was screaming, too, with Orochimaru’s teeth in his neck.

She had pinned Naruto to the tree with a kunai so she could _help_ , somehow, but before she made it back Sasuke fell to the body of the giant snake, out cold.

Before she knew it, she was face to face with Orochimaru. _He_ was in the body of a _woman_ , but she had read about that, too. How he could take on appearance, walk in someone’s skin.

Orochimaru was one of the biggest threats to the safety of Konoha— he held many of their secrets, knew many of their weaknesses, and was smart and powerful enough to evade all of Anbu for over a _decade_ since his exile.

“Sakura, was it?”

She froze. She didn’t remember if anyone had said her name, or not, in front of him. Did he already know? _How?_  And—  _why?_

He faced towards her with open arms and empty palms, the picture of peaceful intent save for his reputation and her teammate's current states, and she couldn’t move. She wasn’t sure she _wanted_ to. It would leave Sasuke closer to being with him, alone. Sakura didn't want that.

“Don’t worry, girl. I wish you no harm. I’ve done what I came here to do. There _is_ one more thing… but that will come soon enough. If he survives long enough to face them, you’ll pass this Exam.”

_Survives?_

“...You _want_ us to pass? But…”

“Very much so. I want to _test_ Sasuke’s abilities, not _kill_ him. I have other plans for that boy.”

_Test?_

“...Plans?”

“All will be revealed in due time. You know who I am, correct?”

Sakura swallowed, nodding.

“Then you should know my current reputation. Better than _I_ do, probably. Is it still just mad scientist? Crazy from the start, or twisted along the way? Sarutobi was always a bit… light, on the accusations.”

“You— you’re _Orochimaru_. One of the legendary _Sannin_ , and— you’re— you’ve killed dozens.” Sakura was proud of how steady her voice was, all things considered.

“Oh, I’ve killed more than that.” His face began to melt away, skin peeling off as he came closer to reveal stark white skin and reptile eyes. “Interesting to hear. I wonder… is Danzō still his advisor?”

 _Danzō?_ The Hokage’s _advisor?_ She wasn’t aware a role existed, outside of the clan heads, council, and committee. Maybe he meant… but she hadn’t heard the name Danzō in any of those roles before.

“I guess a girl like you wouldn’t know. Pity.” And he was _right_ in front of her now, palm pressed to her cheek, shifting her face to each side with a gentle grip. She felt like a deer— unable to do anything but watch, stomach turning solid and heavy.

It must have showed on her face, because he leaned in even closer, yellow eyes gleaming despite the low light under the trees. “Don’t look so _worried_ , dear. As long as you don’t get in the way, you’ll survive. Oh, and— make sure you pass this part of the test, if Sasuke wakes up.”

_If?_

Naruto must be rubbing off on her, because instead of staying quiet, frozen in fear, she whispered, “You can’t seriously expect us to get _two_ scrolls. There's no way. Not with...  _both_ of them. Like _this_.”

(Maybe that was  _Ino_ , though. She _was_ just as bullheaded when saying her mind.)

Orochimaru looked at her. It felt… _appraising_ , in a way, the way he shifted her face back forward and tiled his to the side instead.

His eyes never left her. It was unnerving— she was used to shinobi that watched everything at once— ones like Kakashi, vigilant to the point of excess. Orochimaru was entirely unaffected by the threat of the Forest of Death, focusing entierly on her. She felt like a... specimen, or something similar.

“I suppose that _is_ quite the disadvantage,” and he let go of her face, the cool, smooth drag of his fingers feeling like water. “But you’ll manage, won’t you, Sakura? You don’t want to see what will happen if you fail.”

Before she could say anything else, he was gone. _Body-flicker._

Sakura breathed out, forcing the tension to leave her so she could properly think.

She had to stay here, under these trees. She wasn’t strong enough to carry the full dead weight of _two_ people, even if they were near her size. She couldn’t get them out of the forest— she didn’t even _care_ about the Exam anymore, but apparently _Orochimaru_ did. How did he expect them to pass? Two of the scrolls were gone, now, including their own. There was no way they would catch back up.

They _had_ to, though. What would he _do_ , if they didn’t?

At least they were in a good location. They had kept close to the river, and had made it halfway to the tower before they had been… ambushed.

Here, there would be time for her to set up, lay some traps, and heal her teammates enough for one of them to wake up.

(They were both alive. She checked.)

Then she could help carry _one_ person to the tower, and then they could get _out_ of here, and tell _someone_ about what had just happened. It was— she could feel her grip on her sanity loosening. This was _far_ beyond the scope of the chūnin Exams. Far beyond the scope of _chūnin_ in general— Orochimaru was an _S-rank missing-nin_. That was beyond almost all _jōnin_.

And he had done something to Naruto and to Sasuke, and now she had to make sure they all got out _alive_.

And _passed_ the  _Exam_ , apparently.

For now, though, Sakura was stuck. Stuck with her unconscious teammates, surrounded by people looking for scrolls they didn’t have. She needed to set up camp on the ground and get off of this giant snake before it desummoned and make sure her team could at least _survive_ until the Exams were over, if they couldn't _miraculously_ pass.

Night was beginning to fall, and she needed to prepare.

* * *

Fūinjutsu was... surprisingly helpful, in setting traps.

By the end of the second day, Sakura was grateful she read so much about it. Even though she had focused on the  _advanced_ stuff, she had read enough of the basics to learn how to make concealed proximity bombs. On top of being so much _easier_ to set than ones using wire and explosive tags, if she used _chakra_ for traps, she could keep her materials for everything _else_. Which was… she wanted to be _prepared,_ and she only had so much. She wanted to keep as much as she could to use during a fight, if there was one.

She didn’t even _bother_ with the idea of hunting— foraging would be so much easier when she was only getting food for herself. Trapping might’ve been worth it, but she didn’t want to waste the little supplies she had on something she didn't need.

Then there was caring for her teammates. Trying to heal them as much as possible, which wasn’t much. She had stripped them of their shirts to ease their growing temperatures, and that was about all she could do for now. Sakura hadn’t expected either of them to wake up when she did— around noon, judging by the sun, but she _did_ go to sleep after sunrise— but now it was sunset, she was getting antsy. Tomorrow— they _had_ to get up tomorrow, right?

She didn’t know what she’d _do_ , if they didn’t.

(If they didn't at _all_.)

It was hard to leave them, but she _had_ to. Had to get food and water for herself _some_ time. It felt easier to go out at night, and she _knew_ it wasn’t logical that every other team would sleep when it was dark, but the dark gave her a sense of... confidence, one that she needed to leave Sasuke and Naruto, trusting her traps to keep them safe.

Sakura moved as quietly as possible, moving her chakra to her eyes as she looked for any sansai in the forest. It was spring, so she shouldn’t have much trouble. Especially this close to the river.

Each step felt like forever away from her team. She wanted to be back already, despite having been gone for mere minutes.

 _There_ , some bracken— it was an edible enough plant, and that much would last her two days. Good, she wanted to get _back_ —

Sakura stilled when she heard a girl, nearby, yelling for help. The other noise— was that a _bear?_

She hadn’t even considered the wildlife being a threat. Nothing had strayed near her team _yet_ , but she needed to watch out for anything that could cause harm.

Sakura… didn’t want to _help_ her, exactly, but she needed to see what was happening. It was too close to where she had set up camp to ignore, and the noise might draw in others if she didn’t do anything about it.

It was too risky to  _not_ investigate.

Following the voice, Sakura quickly found the source; a girl, cowering and cornered against the thick of the forest as a bear lumbered towards her. It made her pause, but it was only a _bear,_ albeit a big one. She couldn’t just... _watch_  as the poor girl got mauled. Not when she could have done something. Not when she wanted to help— and, really. Was a bear so much scarier than Orochimaru? After meeting  _him_ and  _walking away_ , she  _had_ to be able to take on a bear.

She was aware that a cry for help was suspicious, especially during this kind of exam. Still, as Sakura got closer, she picked up on nothing— no traps, no teammates. Nothing but the girl in front of her. Waiting a moment when she was _just_ out of sight, she watched as the girl looked around at the ground, seemingly frantic, before grasping something on the ground. Maybe she was triggering—

No, she just... put on a pair of broken glasses.

Sakura felt bad, somehow, for doubting her. She threw a kunai near the bear to distract it, then, deciding that there was no other course of action. It turned in her direction, sniffing at the air, and Sakura weighed the options for less than a second before deciding it was _really_ too close to her camp for comfort. She knew what she had to do.

Still, it was more difficult than she had thought it would be, throwing the kunai that pierced it’s skull.

Her aim was solid— thank the morning with her team for that— and it fell with a heavy thud, dead on the ground.

It was uncomfortable, watching something die. Being the cause of it.

Cautiously, she waited within the trees, waiting for _something_. Nothing came, though, save for the girl’s quiet, “I know you’re not Shigeri or Masashi. Why…?”

Those must be her teammates. If she knew Sakura wasn’t on her team, but she wasn’t attacking, then this _couldn’t_ have been a trap. She _did_ look genuinely terrified, even still, and Sakura wanted to ease her nerves.

How did she ever think this trembling girl was a trap? She reminded Sakura of... herself, a bit. When she was younger. Still, sometimes.

Inexplicably, she wanted to help her. Find her team, or something.

Then again, she wanted to get back to _her_ team. Any moment away was a moment something could happen, and it had been five minutes too long. Ten, maybe.

She turned the way she came, deciding she needed to get  _back_. Hopefully she remembered where the bracken was.

“Please, I— I’m Karin. I’m… please don’t hurt me. Do you— do you want our scroll?”

Sakura paused.

“I just… my team, I haven’t seen them for _days_ , even though— and I didn’t even _want_ to be here, but because I can— My mom— they— they m- _made_ me—”

Now the girl was crying, and Sakura really felt _bad_  now, because this Karin looked like she really just wanted to go _home_. She couldn’t be much older than Sakura— she might’ve even been younger.

Sakura, with a quiet sigh, stepped into the clearing.

“Oh! I— h-here, just— Don’t _hurt_ —” Karin was holding out her scroll with a shaking arm, and Sakura didn't know what to do. Ino had always been better at this kind of thing, and Sakura… couldn’t _not_ take her scroll, but.

_“Make sure you pass.”_

No. She couldn’t let Karin keep it, not if she offered. She said she didn’t want to be here anyway. There was no harm in accepting her scroll.

Actually, it was _exactly_ the kind of break Sakura needed.

“It’s okay,” she said, voice going soft as she walked closer, guard up but barely. “Don’t worry, Karin. My name is Sakura. I don't want to hurt you— what I mean is, I _won't_ hurt you. Um… thank you for your scroll. Do you—”

Gods, this was a stupid offer.

“Do you want help finding your team?”

“N- no,” she said, with a bit of a hiccup. Her crying was slowing down, though, which was good. “I know where— I can find them. I’m sorry.”

"Are you  _sure?_ " She couldn't even protect herself from a bear. How was she going to get back to her team? "Can I at least— will you come back here? If you can't find them, in the next two days? I can help lead you out of here, on the last one." Even if her teammates woke up, there was no way they were getting out of the forest in under four days, and one more person with them would look more intimidating. It would help them, too, she reasoned.

Karin nodded, wiping at her eyes under her bent frames. "Yeah— yes. Thank you. I'm sorry."

“It’s _okay_.” Sakura really wished she could help the girl out more, but, she _had_ to get back to her teammates. If one of them woke up _now_ , after she had got a scroll _…_ maybe they could really do this. Taking the outstretched Earth scroll, she smiled. “Thank you. I would stay and help you longer, but I have to go now. Good luck finding your teammates!”

Sakura thought she heard a _thank you_ , but she was already gone, darting through the trees to get back to the safety of her traps.

It felt… good. Not being the helpless one, for once.

* * *

 _Three days_ since the Exam began, and neither of them woke up.

Sakura’s knowledge of the human body was rudimentary at best, and for three days she watched over Sasuke and Naruto, wondering what she could have done different, if she was doing enough _now,_  if she messed up somewhere and her knowledge was wrong and she didn't realize they were  _dying_ and...

No, she couldn't focus on that right now. She was  _trying_ something. Had been, for hours.

Medical ninjutsu was taught to _chūnin_ , and she never wished more that she had already passed, _just_ to have more practical knowledge than the little Haku taught her.

_“Watch my hands. First, I focus my chakra at the palms— yes, like that— and then I hover them over the wounds. Make sure you don’t let your hands touch skin, or you can risk causing more damage. There you go, that's perfect. Next is the trickiest part— you need to meld your chakra with theirs, to replace what is already being used. Think of it as… cycling your chakra into them, while you draw theirs into you. It’ll feel a lot different than most jutsu, but you have good chakra control. You’ll be able to do it.”_

It had been a lot easier, helping Haku heal Sasuke, when she could see what was wrong. This was… _different_ , for both of hear teammates.

It didn’t help that both of their issues originated from seals.

Naruto seemed stable enough— fitfully sleeping and overheating, but he was fine. He woke up enough to drink water despite never reaching true lucidity, and she wasn’t _afraid_ for him, necessarily. Worried, because it had been _three days,_  and his symptoms made _no sense_ , but not _afraid_.

Sasuke, on the other hand… Sakura didn’t know what to do.

He ran a temperature far higher than Naruto’s, and Sakura had resorted to soaking cut strips from her dress in the cold river water for him in efforts to do _anything_ to cool him down. She was worried he was dehydrating, but he hadn’t woken up to really _drink_ yet, and she was too afraid of his choking if she tried to force water down his throat. Not to mention neither of them had eaten, and Saksuke looked so  _sick_  and Sakura didn't know what to do.

He looked like he was in _pain_ , despite his persistent unconsciousness. Sakura had began trying to heal him, anywhere and everywhere. She didn’t know what the seal on his neck meant, but it resembled the tomoe that made up Sharingan, and...

She couldn’t help but _wonder,_ if there was a link. Especially if it was affecting him so severely— but she couldn’t undo that kind of seal, not if she knew nothing about it.

Naruto’s, however. There was— she had read about the seals on his stomach, but they only raised more questions than they answered.

Orochimaru had placed _one_ , the Five Elements Seal. It _must_ have been placed to destabilize the other seals— odd disrupts even— but she couldn’t figure out _why_.

Four Symbol Seals were _Uzumaki_ seals. She had read a little about them— apparently they were used to seal the Kyuubi within Mito Uzumaki, in a similar offset overlap as the ones on Naruto’s stomach. And they were either a hiden or a kekkei genkai— she thought hiden, now, looking at Naruto’s stomach. Otherwise an _Uzumaki_ would have put it on him, and she didn’t think that was very likely, given that she had never seen this seal on his stomach before. It would have had to be recent, for it to only be appearing _now_. Right?

Then again, some seals lay dormant when not in use... but how would this just  _not_ be in use? Sakura frowned. She needed to read more about it.

Still, the Four Symbol Seals, used like _this_ — those were meant to seal incredibly powerful things within a container. What could _Naruto_ have to do with something like _that?_ Why hadn’t he mentioned it before?

She had only ever seen this seal _today_ , though. Maybe Orochimaru had put it on him when she wasn’t looking, somehow?

 _Why_ would he aim to destablize his _own_ seal?

Sakura didn’t think it really mattered, because she couldn’t undo _those_ kinds of seals. She didn’t even know that she _wanted_ to. The Five Element Seal, on the other hand... _that_ was what knocked Naruto unconscious. That’s what had him— _screaming,_  loud enough to wake the entire Forest.

She wanted it off of him. She _hoped_ she could do it— the Five Elements Unseal was supposed to be a jōnin-level technique, but from what Sakura read, the only issue was chakra control and knowledge.

That was her _specialty_. Her _only_ ability that could exceed her teammates. Sakura _needed_ to be able to do this, both for Naruto and for herself.

And she _knew_ how to do the Five Elements Unseal. At least, she knew how it worked. The steps. She had read all about them, had been trying them for the past six  _hours_ or so by now, to no avail. Except—

She frowned down at his stomach, placing her fingertips over each flame of the seal. Unsealing read a lot like healing, to her. The steps were similar, and she _knew_ what it _felt_ like to heal... It might be easier, then, to follow the same protocol, with slight modifications.

 _Alright, Sakura._ _Focus your chakra._

Easier said than done. She hadn't gotten past this step yet— making chakra appear at her fingertips was hard enough, but changing it into the respective element for each finger was a whole different challenge. Sakura closed her eyes, feeling the way her chakra ran up and down her arm, in and out of her fingertips, changing in her palms...

Closer, but not quite. Still, her last two fingers were the same, where she needed one to be fire and the other to be water.

_Focus your chakra._

Again. Sakura closed her eyes, sent her chakra to her fingertips. Felt the way they began to form into elements, . She _forced_ them into proper unseals, feeling the way they began to fall into the necessary elements.

Thumb— Wood. It set into an unseal with well-practiced ease.

Index— Metal. Diffucult when she had started, but manageable by now.

Middle— Earth. Easy.

Ring— she drew in a breath, thinking of the way _fire_ felt. This was where she got stuck, each time, making it into water like only the pinky should be. But she _had_ to be able to do this, for her team, for herself. She couldn’t go another day with both teammates out of commission, when Orochimaru expected her to complete this part of the Exam.

She couldn’t fail.

_Focus._

Maybe, if she just— Sakura held up her other hand, making a makeshift tiger seal. The way her chakra shifted... Oh, that made more sense. She needed to treat her finger more like the spark, and her chakra like  _wind_ — If she could  _just—_

She nearly broke the jutsu in surprise, when she felt the _fire_ fall into place, form its part of the unseal. Good, good, but she needed to do _more—_

Holding the four other symbols, she bit her lip, focusing on her last finger.

Pinky— Water. It was... _easy!_

She did it. She really— _Calm down, Sakura, there’s still more to go._

Right.

She drew in a calming breath, holding the Five Elements Unseal as steady as she could. It didn’t matter if she could get this far if she didn’t complete the jutsu and _fix_ Naruto.

Onto the next step.

_Meld your chakra with theirs._

Sakura placed her hand on the skin— a different between sealing and healing, the necessary _touch—_ and focused on pushing the unseals _outward_ , into Naruto. Into the Five Elements Seal.

Like  _keys_ , the textbooks said, but Sakura thought of it differently.

_Cycle your chakra. Draw theirs in._

Pulling his chakra in was made easier by the unseal itself— her fingertips seemed to feed off of the chakra.

_You’ll be able to do it._

She had to believe that she could. Failure… it wasn’t possible, not now. Only try and try harder.

The moment it worked was obvious, because it made her hand _burn_. She yanked it back, looking at Naruto’s stomach to make _sure_ , and there it was, the Five Elements Seal, fading away into nothingness.

He stayed still.

Had she missed a step, in her research? Sakura had been so _sure_ this would work, and it _had_ , but he still wasn’t waking up. Maybe it was the other two seals— but she didn’t know what _those_ were doing there, didn’t know why, wouldn’t dare to try and break those seals even if she knew how.

He— shifted, coughed, spit up— not _blood_ , that was _black_ like _ink_ — and cracked an eye open.

“Sa…”

“Naruto? Naruto! Are you—”

He coughed again, rolling to his side, and clutched his stomach. "Wha..."

"Naruto, are you okay?"

"Where..." he retched, but nothing came with the movement. Sakura watched as he stilled, then, and slipped back into sleep.

Sakura waited, and waited, but he didn't wake up. The only change was his breathing— now more even, at least.

_Shit._

She sat there, sweating, wondering what it would take to wake him.

(What it would _take_ , for her to deserve a spot on this team.)

* * *

 _Your seal tripped_.

Sakura woke up with a start. When had she fallen asleep? No, she couldn’t pass out like that again, not when—

No no no, not when her _seals_ were detonating. Far too close to be the outer set, must be the last resorts she had close to camp, but that meant there was  _something_ or  _someone_ that was  _here_.

She wasn't  _ready_ to deal with someone, no, she needed more time, her team needed more time, what was she going to  _do_ —

She grabbed a kunai, struggling to find wakefulness and purchase as she pushed herself up, away from her team. Shifting towards the entrance of her makeshift shelter, she listened with chakra-infused ears, struggling to listen over the sound of her pounding pulse.

“Fucking hell, Kin, I thought you were supposed to be _careful—_ ”

“Oh, okay, _Zaku_ , tell me how was I supposed to see a paper bomb under the grass, then!”

“Both of you, be _quiet_.”

“There’s no use shutting up after we— sorry, after _Kin_ tripped an explosion. Yeah, that’s a bit louder than our voices, pretty sure, hm.”

“Can you just shut up already? Dosu is right. We’re looking for that brat with the Sharingan. I don’t need to hear your annoying voice while we look for him.”

A team? Was _this_ Orochimaru’s _test?_ Sakura’s blood rushed more.

No, she couldn’t face a whole team by herself. Glancing to Naruto and Sasuke, she swallowed.

_Please, let them wake up soon._

A team of three was outside, sent to _test_ Sasuke, or worse. They were… probably Sound-nin, then, judging by Orochimaru’s disguise.

Sakura wasn't ready. No, she needed more _time—_ even if her team could pass _eventually_ , she couldn't win a fight on her own.

(Sasuke probably could. Naruto _had_ , in a way.)

She felt a fast wave of— something, pass over her, fill the room for a flash of a second.

“He’s still asleep?” One of them— Zaku, if she placed their voices right— whispered.

“Come on out,” and that was louder, from the girl. Kin, then. “We’re not here for your _scroll_. We just want to chat. We know you're the only one awake.”

How could she...

Just before, was that— they were  _Sound_ _-nin._ Could they use...was that  _echolocation_ , what she felt?

 _Definitely_ Orochimaru’s team, then.

There was  _no_ way she could take them on her own. But... Naruto had woken up, a bit, earlier. Maybe...?

She had to stall as long as possible, regardless, while she thought of a plan. They had set off one of her explosions, but there were a few _more_ they must not be able to see, or they would have done something about them, right? Especially if they were trying to  _test_ Sasuke some sort of way?

She’d just have to… get them to walk onto them. Get _one_ of them to walk onto one, at least. If she was only fighting _two_ , she could at least have a _chance_.

Sakura had to believe that, or she wouldn’t be able to move.

Talking as slow as she could, Sakura asked, “Why— why don’t you want our scroll?”

Dosu, now, who was _too_ close to the entrance for comfort, spoke. “Oh, we don’t want much. A little birdy told us Sasuke was on your team, that's all. We just want a little play time with him— to see what all the fuss is about. Come on, that’s not so much to ask, right? Let us see how he’s doing.”

Sakura couldn’t let that happen.

"Did the kid _never_ wake up?" She didn’t like Zaku’s voice, what it implied.

This was Orochimaru's test, and Sasuke wasn't awake, and neither was Naruto, and she _couldn't_ take a team on her own.

(She _had_ to. _Try_ , at least.)

"Damn, I was looking forward to a fight. Guess we've gotta take him then, hm."

Wait, what? Just...  _take_ him? No, they couldn't be serious _._ Sakura scrambled to her feet, rushing as far out as she could safely get before bracing herself in a defensive position. “I—” this was so _stupid,_ this was not a _plan_ , but she _had_ to do this— “I won’t let you.”

The closest one— Dosu, it had to be— smiled, dry and uncaring. "Sorry, girl. Hand him over.”

“I— I can’t do that.” Her grip tightened, along with her resolve. "I won't let you take him." She had to keep talking, keep stalling—

“Don't get in our way,” said Kin, throwing a senbon with a bell attached to it at Sakura’s feet.

"A _bell?_ " Stall, stall, if she's angry she might fight you alone— Sakura took a step back, but she couldn’t take any more. She had to get away from Naruto and Sasuke, lead Kin into the hidden seals. There were only two left, and she needed to use them wisely. "How fancy. Do you all accessorize your weapons in the Sound Village, or is it only _you_ who has to compensate for your boring appearance?"

Maybe Naruto or Sasuke would wake up, and maybe they wouldn’t. Regardless, she wouldn't let them _take_ or _test_ or do _anything_ to Sasuke. He was— so much more than her old, stupid, not-so crush. He was her _teammate_. Her _friend_.

There was _nothing_ that she would let get in the way of that. Not even Orochimaru.

_Gods, Sakura, you're out of your mind._

She watched as Kin threw another senbon. This time dodged to the side, not backwards. Another senbon, another dodge. Then, another senbon— but, no, it wasn’t, and Kin laughed at Sakura when she looked back in bewilderment.

“Miss that one, did you? Don’t worry, I didn’t throw anything. The bells aren't just _accessories_ , you little _bitch_.”

Oh. Auditory genjutsu, then, or some kind of wind technique to ring the other bells? Either was… tricky, yeah, but manageable.

Just ignore the noise, focus on the sight, lead her towards the explosives. Sakura had to apply pressure for that, though, so she threw a kunai of her own at Kin’s legs, forcing her to dodge. If she angles them right… This could work.

One more from Sakura, one more dodge backwards.

The began trading throws, and Sakura felt more in control. Felt like she could do this.

Senbon from Kin— dodge to the right. Ignore the bell that came without a throw.

Throw a kunai— watch Kin dodge to the left. Close, but not close _enough_ to detonate the seal.

Actually— Sakura smiled, slightly, and threw another kunai, one wrapped in a paper bomb. Kin dodged it, and she stepped away from where the seal was hidden under some leaves, but she failed to realize the difference in the weapon until it exploded, making the seal explode along with it.

“Oh— _fuck!_ _Ow!_ ” Kin fell back, face contorting from the pain of the burns running up her leg. It hadn’t done _too_ much damage, but Sakura felt the accomplishment nonetheless.

_One seal and four explosive tags left._

“You little _shit_ — Dosu! Kill this _bitch_ already, will you?”

“That’s not the mission, though, is it, Kin?”

“Shut _up!_ ”

“If you need any help, you can just ask. You seem to be... under a little more _heat_ than expected, should we say?”

Kin's hair flopped awkwardly, falling over her eyes as she screamed, “ _Dosu!_ ”

“Fine, fine. I’ll take care of it. Shut _up_ already, we don't need to attract attention.” Dosu rolled his eyes and pulled up his sleeve, and Sakura wondered what kind of weapon that was, attached to his arm.

No. More like.. embedded _into_ his arm. A part of it.

A moment later, Sakura was clutching her ears, trying to escape the horrible noise that started. It was too high and deafening— it _hurt_ , rang in her skull like a migraine. Her vision swam, and she fell to her knees a moment later, unable to stay standing.

Eventually, it quieted down, but it left her ears ringing, her stomach turning.

_Stupid, stupid, you underestimated them and now you’re dead and so is Sasuke and so is Naruto and you let down your team you got them killed how could you do that how could you be so **stupid—**_

She saw more than heard Kin’s laugh, sneering as she walked— no, limped— closer to Sakura. It was hard to hear, but she spoke clearly enough for Sakura to understand her as she mocked her. “Oh, not so _fun_ now, is it? Can’t stand the noise? Don’t worry, you won’t have to for long.” Sakura felt the yelp she let out as Kin _yanked_ her head back by the bun.

A bell sounded off, clear despite the ringing in her ears. It was obviously genjutsu, but it still made Sakura flinch each time it sounded off.

“Kin. Stop toying with her. We’re here for Sasuke, nothing else.”

“Oh, don’t ruin the _fun_ for me, Dosu! Lord Orochimaru said we _could_ kill them if it was _necessary_.”

“Is it?”

“Does it _matter?_ ”

Sakura heard another bell, and she wished she could curl in on herself, but her neck was arched back to the point of discomfort, and the shrill noise from before was _still_ causing her ears to ring, though it had started to lessen.

She had to get free. Kin was distracted— she still had a kunai in hand, it could work—

(Ino said she looked better with her hair _down_ , anyway. Cutting it _that_ short… she wanted to see the look on her face, next time they met.

Because they _had_ to meet, after this. Sakura wasn’t going to die here like an idiot and a coward. She _couldn't._ )

She just needed an opening.

Zaku walked closer, and Sakura wished she could see anything but the treeline behind her, upside down and distorted thanks to the sound. "Come on, Kin. Either do it or don't. Don't go wasting any more of our time."

" _I_ will waste  _all_ the time I want on this  _bitch!_ "

Something shifted, in the forest.

"Calm down, Kin! I know you're precious little _pride_ is wounded after she got you with two of her traps, but—"

What  _was_ that?

" _More_ than my  _pride_ , Zaku!  _Look what she did to my **leg!**_ "

A green flash sprand into the small clearing, and Sakura didn’t care _what_ it was. She used the opportunity.

In one clean motion, she brought her kunai to the base of her bun and cut it off.

It was easy to get away from Kin, now that her ears were ringing less. There had to be a way to protect against that kind of— jutsu, weapon, she didn’t know _what_ to call the mechanism that was embedded in Dosu's arm.

If she could _destroy_ it, it wouldn’t be a problem. She _did_  had four explosive tags left. Perfect.

When she realized what the green flash _was_ , however, Sakura's mind blanked.

_Lee?_

He was in the same stance he took against Naruto, except he was between Sakura and the sound-nin this time.

His back was to _Sakura._

Was he… _protecting_ her?

He seemed to be, looking ready to strike. “Are you alright, Sakura?”

“I... What are you _doing_ here?”

Lee turned to her, and she felt a flash of shame when she remembered calling him _brows_. He didn’t seem to care about it now, giving her a thumbs up and a _stupid_ grin that helped ease her nerves from the sheer absurtidy of the situation. “I do not know why this this team is attacking you, or where your teammates are, but if you were forced to submit they have no reason to continue harming you. It is against the etiquette of the Team Exam. Thus, it is my moral duty to protect you. Oh, and, I, er— I admire the haircut! Although the battlefield is not… exactly the time I would have chosen, for something like that—”

“Lee…” Sakura shook her head, a small grin on her face, despite herself. She needed the break in tension, but it was important that she not lose sight of the danger. “Thank you, but— you need to watch out.”

“Do not worry. I am just as strong as I appear!”

If that was supposed to be reassuring… well, it was, actually. He looked trained enough. And, two verse three? That was a lot more manageable.

Glancing to the other ninja, she bit her lip. What were the odds they knew Konoha sign? They _did_ work for Orochimaru, but, then again… they were from a completely different village.

It didn’t matter, she guessed, because it was better than speaking out loud. Faster, for a shinobi.

She didn’t know how much Lee knew, but genin had to be fluent enough upon graduation. Sakura kept it simple as she signed, _‘Sound shinobi. Genjutsu girl, close boy sound weapon arm. Range, hurt, disorient, danger.’_ Oh, what was the sign she wanted? Right— _‘Destroy quick. Watch out, explosive ground. Careful.’_ That was about as fast as she could convey the situation. Mostly.

Sakura didn’t know the sign for Orochimaru, and she didn’t think telling Lee really mattered right now. That could come later. She hoped he understood what she said.

Lee watched her hands and then nodded, signing back, _‘Thank you,’_ before returning to his stance. She fixed her grip on her kunai, attaching her paper bomb to it, and prepared for a fight.

She quickly learned that Lee was _incredibly_ fast, and a very competent fighter. Every move she made, he worked around, and though they lacked the ease she had with her teammates, it was easy to acclimate to fighting alongside him.

Dosu’s sound was easier to deal with the second time she felt it. Lee was clearly unbalanced, but the _explosion_ from Sakura’s kunai hitting it disrupted the sound waves enough for him to keep his footing.

It _cracked_ the weapon. If she landed all of her kunai, there was no _way_ it wouldn’t break.

Lee continued his onslaught of taijutsu, and Zaku began to join in the battle, firing compressed air out of his _palms_ that carried a low hum to pair with Dosu’s _horrible_ high pitch. It hurt to get hit by, and Sakura was knocked off her feet each time it did.

(It was getting harder and harder to stand up.)

Sakura didn't have much chakra left in her reserves, not after the hours she spent breaking Naruto's seal, but she managed to use substitution effectively. Especially against, Kin, whose movement was slow and sloppy from pain and anger.

 _Finally_ , Kin stepped on the last of the seals, but Sakura’s triumph was short lived. The explosion broke Lee’s attention long enough for Dosu to make his _sound_ again, and it was— _worse_ , somehow, coming from a damaged weapon. Sakura saw Lee fall to the ground the same moment she did, unable to do anything else but let the pain course through her body.

She didn't know how much time passed before it stopped, but ti felt like ages. Even after the affected lingered, rattling through her skull and sending wave after wave of _pain_.

When she felt strong enough to force her eyes open, Zaku was standing right over her, looking angry and tired but otherwise fine.

“I didn’t expect you to bring reinforcements. Is that common, hm? For Konoha-nin to need _help_ in all of their battles?”

Sakura wanted to argue, but it hurt too much to speak.

“I thought you would have been  _stronger_ , to be on Sasuke's team. He  _better_ be stronger than you.”

He _was_ stronger than her.

 _Sasuke_ would have been able to beat them, she thought. _Naruto_ , could have, too.

She couldn’t even do it with _help_.

“Don’t…” Lee started, but it broke off into a whine as Dosu’s sound turned loud again. All other noise drowned out, Sakura’s world reduced to ringing and ringing and nausea and pain with no end in sight.

She barely felt herself curl into a ball, hands over her ears to try  _anything_ to stop the feeling. If it went on for much longer, she would throw up. She would go  _crazy._

Then, sharply, it cut off. Sakura still couldn’t _hear_ , but she could open her eyes again, lids low as she picked her face up off of the ground to see what was going on.

Zaku tripped over her leg, and she turned to see why, but the movement had her closing her eyes again, trying her best not go get sick. Sound faded in and out. She didn’t know if she could get up.

“… _is_ that?…”

“…need to _leave_ … who _cares_ about… leave them! Zaku! This is not— Lord Orochimaru… we can get him _later!_ I don’t want to deal with— whatever _this_ is!”

“We can take him!”

“No, we _can’t!_ Are you so dense… can’t… _chakra?_ ”

“…staying, so…”

“…is… _Zaku_ … get _killed…_ ”

Sakura thought, distantly, that the bear must have had friends, because she heard one roar somewhere nearby. Soon after, her hearing began to ring so much she couldn’t hear anymore. She squeezed her eyes, tight, willing the feeling to pass, as she curled in on herself and let everything fade out.

A shinobi is one who endures, after all.

* * *

It must have been minutes, but, _eventually_ , her hearing came back to her.

“…calm _down, idiot!_ She’s _fine!_ I already— _we_ already went too far as it _is!_ ”

Was that _Sasuke?_

 **“Shut up! I need— I** **_can’t—_ ** **they** **_deserve_** **—”**

…that _couldn’t_ be Naruto. Unless her ears were _really_ damaged, but then— why did Sasuke sound normal?

 _Oh_. Sakura had to be dreaming. Yes, that made more sense. Sakura was just imagining her teammates waking up to save her, sounding strange and unlike themselves.

She knew she needed to get _up_ , but she couldn't shake the exhaustion in her limbs. Why did she need to get up, again? She remembered fighting, but maybe... maybe the whole  _fight_ had been a dream. In that case, she was still asleep next to her teammates, under the protection of her shelter. She would be fine.

That must be the case, Sakura decided, letting herself drift back into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohhh we're spicing things up now arent we :)  
> I'll end a chapter with these fools staying awake _some_ day lol
> 
> Note: I changed the description for this fic to a mostly excerpt from the first chapter, if anyone was confused


	7. hot water, rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which Kurama intervenes.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Alternatively: In which boys are boys lol]
> 
> Note: please heed the updated rating and tags!

Naruto woke up to agony.

He felt like he couldn’t _breathe_ , liquid fire radiating out from his core. It was overwhelming, overpowering, and—

Was that Sakura, he heard? It was too hard to focus, but he was _sure_ …

 **...THAT** ** _GIRL…_** **_SHE_** **FREED…?**

He felt himself cough, but the pain was too much, and he let the blanket of sleep envelop him once again.

* * *

 

**_BOY._  
**

 

There was less pain, this time, as Naruto regained consciousness. The back of his jacket felt soaked through to the skin, but the water was warm and inviting.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with endless black, as if he were engulfed by the night sky itself.

An ache lingered, dull and persistent, on the skin of his stomach. He shifted to feel it, to check and see how he was hurt. He remembered— That woman, holding him up with her giant snake’s tongue, fingers glowing with a jutsu Naruto didn’t recognize.

He had been so _angry_ , watching her threaten his team. To _scare_ Sasuke like that, enough to make him _admit_ some sort of _defeat_ — it made Naruto’s blood boil, even now.

Facing her, though, made him understand some of the fear. There was something about her that was too _much_. Something in her gaze and her voice that held an intensity that made him squirm, even now, just remembering it.

And what she said… it didn’t make sense. He didn’t _understand_.

 _“To have this kind of effect… you and that demon have nearly melded your chakra into_ **_one_** _…? I would have never guessed, at such a young age— oh, but, you_ **_would_ ** _have more ease with it, wouldn’t you. How intriguing.”_

And then she had said something about him not getting in the way, but Naruto couldn’t really remember the rest of her words. Everything after that was dark and muddled with the afterthought of her hand plunging into his stomach.

He shuddered, remembering how much it hurt. Now, under his hand, he felt no injury, but. He _had_ always healed fast.

Worse than that was the rush of _emptiness_ that had followed. Of _weakness_. He had never felt so powerless in his life, like he was cut off from half of his senses, paralyzed on the inside but not the out.

It was reassuring, waking up and feeling normal again. Even if it was inside that strange place from before, when he first heard the _voice_.

 

 **FINALLY!** **_AWAKEN_** **, BOY.**

 

Naruto began to sit up, sleepy and slow, as he searched for the source.

_Where…?_

 

 **WE HAVE NOT THE** **_TIME_ ** **FOR YOUR NEEDLESS QUESTIONS! CAN YOU NOT HEAR IT? THE** **_FIGHTING?_ **

 

Closing his eyes again, Naruto focused on listening. He _could_ hear something, distantly, but it felt so far away. How could he hear that, when there was nothing else _here?_

 

 **YOU ARE WITHIN YOUR OWN MIND, YOU** **_FOOL_** **. GET UP AND HELP!**

 

Naruto frowned, feeling at the water beneath him. If he was inside of his mind… How long had he _been_ here, then? He remembered flickers of Sakura, but that did nothing to tell him how much time had passed since— whatever happened with that _woman_.

It could be minutes, hours, _days_ — and if he heard _fighting_ that had to mean his _team_. In  _danger._

He _wanted_ to get up and help. He _needed_ to.

But, there was the issue of— _How?_ How could he go _back?_

**THE SIMPLE ACT OF WAKING UP IS ALL THAT IS NECESSARY.**

_I’m already awake._ How was he supposed to wake up _again?_

 **NOT** **_LITERALLY._ ** **THIS IS** **_YOUR_ ** **SUBCONSCIOUS. SIMPLY… THIS SHOULD NOT BE** **_COMPLICATED_ ** **FOR YOU!**

“Well, it is!” Naruto crossed his arms, brows drawn in close. “I’ve only done this once before, and I don’t even know how I did it _then!_ ” When he had been here the last time, he had felt like he was _dragged_ out of it. How was he supposed to just… _go?_

From in front of him, there was a harsh burst of air, and a heavy _thud_ that sent ripples out past the bars.

(Had the water gotten higher, since he woke up?)

 ** _FINE!_ THEN I WILL ** **_HELP_ ** **YOU** **.**

There was the impression of a sigh, felt and not heard, before,

 **COME CLOSER, THEN, _RUNT_. TO THE GATES OF THE SEAL. UNLESS YOU SEE YOURSELF AS ** **_ABOVE_ ** **MY ASSISTANCE?**

“I have a _name_ you know.” Naruto glared at the tall gate in front of him, standing up to walk over to it. He was itching to get out of here, now. Anxious to make sure his team was okay. “What _are_ you, anyway?”

**BRAT! DON’T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!**

_I’m not playing,_ he thought, but he held his tongue in favor of making a face. Naruto _hated_ it when people assumed he knew things, when they never made an effort to _teach_ him. He knew he was kind of stupid, but no one  _helped._   _T_ _hat_ hurt more than knowing he knew nothing.

He didn’t have the time to spare worrying about it, though, not when he needed to get _back_ , so he kept his uncertainty unvoiced.

Still, there was a notable halt of breathing before the next words came.

 **YOU ARE.** **_UNAWARE._ ** **OF** _**WHAT**_ **I _AM?_**

How was he supposed to _know?_

**AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?**

What does that _mean?_ The first time Naruto heard this voice—

 **…YOU REALLY** **_ARE._ ** **THEN… SO IT WAS** **_IGNORANCE_** **.**

There was shifting, behind the bars, where it was shrouded by shadow.

 **_THAT_ ** **IS THE REASON FOR MY PROLONGED,** **_SILENT_ ** **IMPRISONMENT?** **_I_ ** **HAD TO COME TO** **_YOU_** ** _—_ ** **AND YET YOU WERE** **_IGNORANT_** **, NOT** **_IGNORING?_ **

_Imprisonment?_ _Ignoring?_ Naruto walked closer to the bars, searching past them towards the source of the voice.

**YOU TRULY ARE OBLIVIOUS TO WHAT I AM, THEN? WHAT YOU WERE MADE TO BE?**

Naruto supposed he was, considering he had no clue what the fuck was going on. It was beginning to grate on his nerves. He just wanted _answers._

 **I AM THE MOST POWERFUL BEING LEFT TO THIS** **_WORLD_** **, AND THEY THINK THEY NEED NOT TELL— OH, HOW I** **_DESPISE_** **—**

There was a snarl, then, coming from everywhere at once, and Naruto couldn’t help but flinch back. Out of the darkness behind the bars, a shape began to appear, growing closer.

It was the mouth of an animal. Not a natural one— a spirit, maybe— because it was far too large. It had to be larger than the Hokage monument, he thought.

 **_HE!_ ** **NOT** **_IT_** **. I AM** **_MORE_ ** **THAN A MERE** **_ANIMAL_ ** **OR** **_SPIRIT_** **, BOY. I AM…**

Another pause, as more of the _something’s_ head became visible. It— he— nearly glowed, once out of the shadows, looking like what Naruto imagined chakra would look like if it were _red_. But there was so _much_ of it, forming into a shape that felt familiar and yet was different than anything he had ever seen. Ever _imagined_.

**MY NAME IS KURAMA. YOU HAVE WONDERED, IF— WELL. I AM, IN A SENSE, A GOD.**

Naruto nodded, jaw drawing as Kurama’s eyes came into view. They were bright red, staring straight into his own, the most opaque part of him in sight.

They felt as hard to look away from as the Sharingan.

 **DO NOT TAKE MY NAME'S RELIQUISHMENT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO FORGET MY POWER. NOW, WE MAY TALK MORE** **_LATER_** **, BOY.**

“Naruto,” he corrected, a bit breathless. He didn’t really like _boy_. It reminded him of getting chased out of storefronts and streets, of whispers and insults and being looked through, not _at_.

Kurama narrowed his eyes, amending with,

 **_CHILD_** **. THERE ARE OTHER MATTERS TO ATTEND TO— HAVE YOU SO SOON FORGOT WHY I CALLED UPON YOU?**

Oh, right.

 _His team_ was in _danger._

 **THAT GIRL BROKE THE** **_SERPENT’S_ ** **SEAL. I INTEND TO REPAY THE FAVOR.**

Naruto frowned, remembering the snake woman and what she did. That was a _seal?_ Sakura had read a little about them to him, when Sasuke was busy before training. They seemed so _complicated—_ damn it, he couldn’t think about that right now, he had to _leave!_

And there was still that issue. Of Naruto being _here_.

“Okay, so, what do I do?” He shook his hands out, feeling nervous energy filter through his limbs. “How do I wake up? C’mon c’m _on_ , I need to get _back—_ ”

 

**SILENCE!**

 

A huge, clawed hand slammed on the ground, fisted behind the bars.

Kurama’s nose pressed to the cold metal, now, lip curled back as he glowered down at Naruto.

 **I WILL _FORCE_ YOU AWAKE, BUT YOU MUST FEEL MY ** **_HATE_ ** **TO BE OPEN TO MY** **_POWER_** **. REMEMBER THE WAY YOU FELT THE LAST TIME WE DID THIS.**

Naruto remembered— it had _boiled_ , anywhere and everywhere, around and inside him. Yet the pain came with adrenaline, and. More than that, _anger_ , at the world and at himself.

**THAT IS HOW MY CHAKRA FEELS.**

“It—” _burns_ , is what he wanted to say, but that felt incorrect, somehow. Not strong enough. It was so much more than just _burning_. “I can’t—”

He heard something again, from outside of this realm. A voice he didn’t recognize, didn't understand.

Can’t _what?_ Naruto took in a deep breath, beginning to feel overwhelmed.

 **WHAT BURNS MORE?** **_MY_ ** **CHAKRA, OR** **_YOUR_ ** **FAILURE?**

The image of Sasuke, dead in front of him, came forth unbidden— Naruto knew he hadn’t died then, but in his memory, it felt like he did. The terribly, sinking feeling, watching him fade, hearing his words and his breath grow fainter and fainter—

Seeing that happen again— _no—_ he would  _hate_ that _—_

He heard _Sasuke_ , then, but he couldn’t make out the words, no matter how clear they sounded.

 

**NOW, RUNT. WAKE UP.**

 

Naruto had only a moment to register how the water crashed into his waist in a wave, seemed to push and _pull_ him back and down and under— and then he was thrust into the waking world, breathing slow and eyes unfocused _._ He was staring up at the leaves, blending in with the night sky.

He was in the open, now, but— he hadn’t been before, he thought? Where—

_Where are they—_

When he heard Sasuke, he froze.

“So, this is Orochimaru’s gift to me, then? Should I be _thankful?_ ” Sasuke snapped, voice filled with more malice than Naruto had ever heard him hold. Carefully, he shifted his eyes to watch, keeping the rest of his body limp as if he were sleeping.

He needed to figure out where Sakura was, first, and decide on a plan. He had the element of _surprise._

Naruto wouldn’t have known what to do, anyways, when he saw the way Sasuke looked. Black marks covered his left side, filling the expanse of his back and creeping down his neck, his arm, his leg.

(Where was his shirt? Why didn't  _Naruto_ have one on, either?)

In front of him there was a boy raising his arms forward, buzzing with enough chakra to make Naruto twitch, ready to do something, ready to help. Sasuke slapped them away with ease, and the boy made a shocked noise before Sasuke kicked him and he fell to his knees.

“Wh— Wha— I-I—”

“ _Well?_ ” Sasuke said, pacing closer. “Should I be?”

_Sakura, Sakura, where is she—_

“I— I—”

Sasuke leaned in and laughed. “What, cat got your tongue? Spit it out already.”

“I— Uh, y-yes? He—” the boy tried to rise again, but a swift kick kept him down.

“Look at you. You can't even stand, your so weak.” He motioned past the boy, and Naruto caught sight of two more people— another boy, eyes wide enough to show white on every edge, and a girl with bloodied, blackened legs. She looked so still, she had to be either knocked out or— killed, he guessed.

Naruto wanted to know how that happened, but he _needed_ to find Sakura first. It was challenging, trying to scan the small clearing when everything was dark and he could barely see behind him without turning his head.

“That’s one of your team down. But you downed two of my own. So, then, it’s only fair that I make my mark on _you_. Right? Test _my_ gift against  _yours?_ ”

No, no, Sakura was _down?_ Was she— _just_ down? He didn’t think Sasuke would be so— casual about it, if she were _dead_ , but— _Fuck_. Naruto needed to get up—

Except. Sasuke seemed in control, for now. Naruto couldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. Not yet.

That could get them _all_ killed.

The boy went to stand up, and Sasuke kicked him down, let him scramble back to his hands and knees as he circled behind him. “I—”

“Unless there’s someone _else_ to blame for what happened to Sakura.”

 _What,_ though? What _happened_ to her?

“Well—”

“I even _asked_.”

“She— we were sent after _you_ —”

Sasuke made a _tsk_ , pressing his heel into the boy’s back, forcing him down.

“Zaku, was it?”

When Sasuke pressed harder, the boy nodded. Sasuke just pushed him down further, until his face rubbed into the dirt.

“It was _cute_ , really. That little trick you did with the air. Your arms are modified, right? Turned into weapons.”

Why— why was Sasuke acting like this? Sasuke wasn’t… he wasn’t cruel, Naruto thought, remembering when he had offered him his food, the day they officially became a team. He wasn't _sadistic_. Why would he be like  _this?_

(Unless, _Sakura_ —)

“Your arms are your _only_ weapons, too, aren’t they?”

Sasuke chuckled, deep and inexplicably _dark_ , as he put his hands on Zaku’s, pulling them back at an even pace. Quiet _crunches_ rang out, and Naruto couldn’t tell if it was wood or bone that was splintering under Sasuke’s vice grip.

“What are you— _ah_ — Stop—”

He was pulling back, slowly but steadily, pushing his foot down further to deepen the stretch until it looked unnatural.

Naruto watched, barely breathing, struggling not to swallow his tension.

Sasuke kept going.

“Don’t worry. I’m just making sure you’re _disarmed_.”

Zaku choked on a punched-out breath when the harrowing _snap_ of his shoulders rang loud in the clearing. A beat passed, and Naruto watched as he let out a soundless scream as Sasuke kept  _going_ , wrenched the arms back _further,_ and only when Zaku’s entire body began to shudder did he let up and let go.

Zaku’s arms flopped a bit, hanging limply, as he gasped, deep and frantic.

It reminded him of—

Zabuza.

But _that_ was when _Haku_ and _Sasuke_ and— he grit his teeth at the memory, glanced away.

Was this what it would have looked like, to see himself? Going after Haku in revenge?

(No, no. This was _different_. It _had_ to be, because otherwise— _Sakura_ —)

Sasuke nudged him with his foot and he fell to his side, coughed out a blubbering, “A— A— A-a-ah,” that Sasuke ignored as he continued forward, over Zaku and towards the remaining boy.

Naruto _knew_ this felt— dangerous. _Wrong_. But.

The thought of _Sakura isn't doing anything_ kept him from stopping Sasuke’s advance.  _Sakura— where **is** she?_

Instead, he laid still, listened to the boy’s quickening breaths.

“Don’t look so scared,” Sasuke spat. “This is as much your responsibility as his. Don’t think I didn’t notice _your_ arm.” He took another step forward, but stopped, glanced down at his leg.

There was a senbon, sticking out of it.

Naruto’s eyes shifted to the girl, who was sitting nearly as still as he was.

 _Nearly_ , save for the barely-noticeable movement of her arm. He had _seen_ it, though, seen the shift before she stopped completely.

Her eyes were low, slitted, but open. Awake. _Alive_.

They met his.

A moment later, he heard her yell, “Dosu! Snap _out_ of it!” as Naruto was standing _up_ , because she was throwing again, straight at Sasuke.

They sunk in, deep, but he ignored them, moved his hands into that familiar _tiger_ and sent a burst of flame aimed right at her face.

Before Naruto could do anything to help, a noise rang out.

He clutched his ears in a second, to the erratic pitch making him fumble forward and collapse to his knees, too harsh when it cut through the near silence.

Naruto _had_ to get up, though, so he did, pushed himself and ignored the pain as he tried to follow what was happening.

The girl was still on the ground, but now so was _Sasuke_ , with—

More fucking _senbon_ — _no no not like the bridge again—_ and Naruto watched him barely brace himself up with his arms, unsteady like he never was.

 _No no no this can’t be_ **_happening_ ** _not like the bridge not again—_

(There was a senbon in his shoulder now, but he paid it no mind.)

_Where was Sakura, where was she, was she okay? Was she alive?_

Naruto tried to find stability as he _finally_ turning to look around and at Sakura. He could check behind him now that he could _move_ — There, pink hair—

In a clump, next to _her_ — her _body_ —

(Someone else's, too, but he couldn’t focus, couldn’t tell who it was.)

Sakura was limp, motionless, laid at an awkward angle.

She looked—

(He couldn’t _focus_ enough to catch if she was breathing.)

She looked _dead_.

(Was it her  _dress_ that was red, or _—_ )

Sasuke retched, then, and Naruto turned back in time to catch the threads of blood that followed.

_No, no, why was he—_

_What did they_ **_do_ ** _to him— to Sakura—_

_Was he going to die, too?_

Naruto didn’t realize he had blinked until he opened his eyes, back in his subconscious. It was calm and quiet and he couldn’t _be_ here, no, he needed to—

**YOU NEED MY HELP.**

“No, no, I need to go _back!”_ He ignored the crack in his voice, because—

Sasuke might be _dying_ and Sakura might be _dead_ Kurama was _forcing_ him _here_ to _talk?_

**WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO DO ON YOUR OWN, BRAT?**

“ _I don’t know!_ ” Naruto knew he was close to crying, now, but he didn’t want to _focus_ on that, he needed to go _back_ —

**YOU’RE TOO WEAK. TAKE MY OFFER, OR WATCH HIM DIE.**

He screamed, “ _Fine!_ Fine, just take me _back!_ ” Anything to go back, he _hated_ being away, _hated_ being unable to help, unable to keep them safe, unable to keep them _alive_ —

**WHAT WILL YOU DO, TO THOSE THAT HARMED THEM?**

Naruto didn’t _think_ as he decided, _I’ll break them— make them_ _pay—_

 **WILL YOU LET THEM DOWN? LET THEM** **_DIE?_ **

“ _No!_ ” He felt his eyes begin to sting, hands finding his hair and pulling at it. “I _won’t!_ ”

He _couldn’t_ , he had to keep them _safe_ as long as he still _could._ He was _nothing_ without them, his friends, his family, his home, world, _everything_. Letting them down would be more than unforgivable.

He would be _worse_ than trash, worse than _nothing_ — he **hated** the thought, of failing, of being alone. **_Hated_ ** it more than _anything_ else.

 **ACCEPT THE CALL OF MY CHAKRA. MY HATRED— MY** **_ESSENCE_** **.**

Kurama’s hand stretched towards the bars before sinking through it, into the water, making it bubble and blacken like ink, like tar. It reached towards Naruto, and he let it take hold of him, let it seep into his skin. He sobbed and he screamed as his body was dragged down into the water, boiling alive from both inside and out.

Into the dark waters he let the hand drag him, sinking down,

down,

 

down,

 

 

down,

 

 

until he choked out a breath and _roared_.

His eyes then opened to _red, red, red,_ and he knew what he had to do.

Naruto **hated** the noise, the ringing in his ears and his skull and before he knew it he was at the source, holding the weapon in one hand and Dosu’s scarf with the other.

 _What will you do?_ echoed through his skull as he growled, loud and inhuman, and punched straight through the metal.

The sound _shrieked_ for one, terrible moment before cutting off, and while it should have helped clear Naruto’s mind, more rage to settle into its place.

**_What will you do?_ **

“Wait— No— please,” Dosu went, struggling to get away as Naruto’s hand curled down on the flesh attached to the weapon’s remains, hearing the quiet _creak_ of his arm. He stomped down on his foot to keep him from getting away, taking in the terror on Dosu’s face when his gaze snapped to it, shutting him up.

It wasn’t enough, to see him afraid. He had— his _team—_ Sakura, Sasuke, the might be—

“ _Shut up,_ ” Naruto spit, jerking him closer by the scarf. “You’ll _pay_.”

**WHAT WILL YOU DO, TO THOSE THAT HARMED THEM?**

“I’ll— _ah!_ — I’ll do— I don’t— no no, please, what are you _do-o- i—_ ” Dosu cut off as he sucked in uneven breaths, keening as Naruto applied more pressure, smelling iron and salt.

His nails were sharp just as they were on the bridge, digging deep through layers of tissue. Blood pooled between his fingers as he clenched harder, stronger.

 _I’ll break them,_ he reminded himself _._

With a clear **_crack_** , he crushed the bones beneath.

Dosu let out a shriek that rivaled the pitch his arm produced, but Naruto didn’t let up, feeling the burn of strength thrum through his muscles. Dosu was trying to get out of his grip, but he wasn’t strong enough. Would never be strong enough, to rival this kind of power.

**DO YOU HATE HIM?**

**_Yes_** , he thought, as image after image of Sasuke and Sakura, bloody and broken and covered in **red** filled his vision. That was  _him_ , his fault, Dosu needed to  _pay—_

The images morphed to Dosu with his terrible, horrible weapon, the one that had made him nauseous, the one that had made Sasuke puke. The one in his hand, spitting that bright _red_ blood all over his hands and the ground beneath. He saw it breaking, and breaking, and breaking again, and he _wanted_ it, he _hated_ it, hated _him_ , **hated** so _much—_

**THEN BREAK HIM, AS YOU SAID.**

When he came to, Naruto found himself spitting and snarling as he took both hands to mess of flesh, twisting sharply as he pulled at the skin, then the muscle, then the tendon, then the nerves. Dosu made a pitiful cry, sputtering ragged breaths as he weakly fought to keep his arm.

It was _irritating_ , it was _disgusting_ , Naruto _hated_ his response, his voice, his presence— he reached to break off the thick artery with sharpened nails to _remove_ the fucking limb, he **_hated_ ** it, wanted it off, gone, broken and broken and broken like— 

“ _Fuck_ ,” he heard Sasuke spit, and his attention shifted to him.

He was _alive_ rang over and over again, dampening the fire under his skin. “ _Sasuke._ ”

He was fine, he was alive, he—

 ****Naruto ripped his hand from Dosu with much less grace than necessary, thick spurts of blood splashing onto the dirt.

“What _are_ you?” said Zaku. “You shouldn’t— _how_ did you—”

“Shut up,” Naruto muttered, walking to Sasuke, looking him over. Senbon were in and through him, just like they were before, and he leaked red over the ground.

(There was so much _red._ Red on Sasuke, on Dosu, on Naruto’s hands. It was hard to see anything else, any other color.)

Sasuke was moving, sluggish and slow, but _moving_. Trying to get to his feet, but  _failing_.

“What _is_ that,” Zaku said, straining as he, too, got to his knees.

Naruto turned towards him, hissed, “Shut _up_.”

 

 **DO NOT FORGET YOUR** **_GIRL._ **

 

Naruto looked to her, but, no, no,  _Sakura_ ** _still_  ** _wasn’t moving—_

Sasuke swayed as he tried to stand, then fell to his knees again, coughing a bit more acid and blood.

 _No, no, why is it_ **_red_** _, why is he hurt—_

**YOU KNOW WHY.**

Why wasn’t _Sakura_ getting up?

 **YOU** **_KNOW_ ** **WHY!**

Zaku opened her mouth, and Naruto slammed him all the way to the ground before he could get any air out. “ _Shut up!_ ” he screamed, feeling his mind ebb away. He wanted him to be _quiet_ , he wanted Sakura to get _up_ , he wanted—

(There was so much _red_ , everywhere, on everyone except _him._ )

“Are you even _human?_ ”

He wanted to take out his voicebox _himself—_ wanted him quiet and unmoving, like Sakura—

**DO IT, CHILD.**

Naruto brought his foot down to his neck, listened to it groan under the pressure.

He wanted him _covered_ in red, like the rest of them, wanted—

**YOUR HANDS, RUNT. YOUR CLAWS.**

He dropped down on top of him, drew both fists back and _punched_ and _punched_ him again and again and again and again as his mind blanked out, turned red with rage.

“Naruto, _stop_.”

But, he couldn’t. **“I** **_can’t_ ** **—”** he said, fist freezing in the air when he caught his own voice.

Was that really _him?_

**_MORE,_ CHILD, _MORE!_ **

He brought it down again, into the bruised, bloodied body under his thighs, looking more and more like—

Did she just  _move?_

**_“Sakura—”_ **

Sasuke’s hands were pulling his back, now, keeping him from landing another hit. “You need to calm _down, idiot!_ She’s _fine!_ I already— _we_ already went too far as it _is!_ ”

 **“Shut up! I need— I** **_can’t—_ ** **they** **_deserve—_** **”**

“Look at me!”

He did, and he sucked in a breath, dropped the tension in his shoulders.

**NO, NO, NO! HE MUSN'T SEE, DON’T LOOK—**

But he already had, and the rage was gone, world draining of red as it swirled into Sasuke’s eyes.

Kurama’s voice faded out as Naruto focused, watched the Sharingan’s spin come to a halt.

He panted, staring, and Sasuke stared back.

“Stop, Naruto.”

He tugged and led Naruto up, away from Zaku, over to Sakura.

(That was _Lee_ , next to her. He didn’t wonder why, not now. Not after that.)

Now closer, he could tell—

Her spine bobbed up and down, breath even with sleep.

“See? Sakura's fine.” Sasuke said, letting his hands slide out of their wet grip on Naruto’s. He chased after it, absentmindedly, but they were too slippery to catch Sasuke’s again.

“We’re _both_ fine,” he added, as Naruto raked his eyes over his chest, trying to make _sure_. The black that had coated half Sasuke's body was gone, replaced by pinpricks of blood and the glint of a few broken senbon, embedded too deep to remove. But they were in muscle, not organ, and Sasuke was fine.

He nodded, unable to do anything else. Now that the anger drifted away, he felt an _ache_ begin to settle in, growing by the second.

“I—” he started, not knowing what to say. Sakura was fine, and Sasuke was fine, and he had gone too far, he hadn’t been able to stop, what was— _wrong_ with him, how could he even. _Do_ that.

He glanced back at Zaku and immediately recoiled, feeling sick to his stomach.

(Something else, too, followed the feeling, low in his gut. It _hurt_ , burned through his skin.)

Naruto felt his eyes begin to sting. “I—” It had happened so _fast_ , and Kurama had kept _saying_ things, and he couldn’t _stop_ , and he didn’t want to be what the village thought of him as.

He sucked in a breath, looking away as he wiped his hands on his pants. He could buy a new pair later, he just— He could feel the way the blood began to dry under his nails, once again short and blunt.

That was _nothing_ like when he went against Haku— he had _stopped_ against Haku— what if— what if he _hadn’t_ —

He swallowed, thick and acidic and threatening to come back up, and rubbed his hands a bit harder.

When he looked back at Sasuke he was blurry, and Naruto felt _stupid stupid stupid_ because what did _he_ have to cry over, this was— _he_ did the damage, it was  _his_ fault—

“It’s okay,” Sasuke said, and Naruto coughed, wet, ending in a whine he failed to stifle.

Naruto snuffed, sucking in air, hands reaching over his mouth in vain attempts to keep quite, to lessen his disgust. “I’m— _sorry_ ,” he muttered, hating how weak it sounded, hating how stupid it was. He shouldn’t be crying, not here, not now, not over something as stupid as doing what shinobi are supposed to _do_ , what he knew some _did_.

He couldn't stop himself before he lurched forward, forehead bracing on Sasuke’s chest. He wished he was wearing the hitai-ate to buffer between the skin, he wished his head was on his shoulder, kept more distance, this was _stupid_ and too  _close_ and he was so short, never measured up to Sasuke, why was he  _crying_ like a  _baby_ , this was _part of the_ _Exam_ _, Naruto, get your shit together._

The chest went rigid, and Naruto nearly pulled away, wondering how much _worse_ he could make things, how much worse it could _get_ , but then Sasuke leaned, ever slightly, placed a hand on Naruto’s hair and gently pulled him closer.

“It’s okay,” Sasuke said, and Naruto believed him.

(He _had_ to.)

Sasuke didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t take back his hand, either. Naruto was grateful for it, even if it wasn't _enough_ , quiet sobs quickly returning to silence as he drank in the feeling of _safe_ and  _calm_ and  _it’s okay_. Even if it was false, he needed it. He couldn't move away if he tried.

It shouldn’t _matter_ to him, if he did things like this, but it _did_ and he _hated_ it and he forced himself to stop crying and not start again, hands falling to his sides to fist in his pants, anchor him.

Breathing out, slow and long, he willed his mind to _calm_.

He stayed there for a long while, letting the sounds of the forest quiet around him for who knows how long before the hand in his har slipped down to his shoulder and gingerly nudged him back. Sasuke had a wide, searching eyes, black as the sky above them, but Naruto couldn’t meet them, focusing back on his chest as he wiped at his cheeks.

He had to say something, anything, so he asked, “Do we— do we take their. Uh. Scroll?”

Sasuke paused and then let out a tiny puff that might have been a laugh. He nodded, finally took back his hand. Naruto missed it already.

He stepped away, then, felt the warmth of Sasuke’s skin dissipate as he turned to the other team. Sound-nin, like the woman.

The girl was covered in burns, eyes back to closed, but Naruto could focus now, could hear she was breathing, just too exhausted to move. Dosu, too, was unconscious—

He looked far worse, though, skin gone whiter than the bandages he wore. Half of his forearm was hanging low and away from the rest, twisted at an angle that displayed the rest, made Naruto shudder. It looked destroyed. He was sure it was beyond repair.

The bleeding had slowed, though, and Dosu  _was_ breathing, no matter how fitful it sounded.

(He wasn’t _dead_. That was good. Naruto didn’t like the idea of being a killer, not like this. Not like a _monster_.

Plus, they weren't really supposed to _kill_ unless necessary, during the Exams. Naruto knew it wasn’t in this case. None of what he did was.)

“Can—” he said, then stopped, wringing his hands. He could still feel blood, dry and flaking.

“What?”

“Can we. Is there anything we can do, about that?” He gestured to the mass of mangled flesh, not really sure what he meant. “Nevermind, I— that sounds stupid.”

Sasuke paced to his side, and he shut up, feeling more like an idiot by the second. “Nevermind, don't— just, act like I never said anything.”

“We can.”

Naruto swallowed. Sasuke looked... determined, now, but. How? “We can?”

“I can. Cauterize it. Sort of.”

Naruto made a face at the idea. But it was the best they could do for him, after all he had already done. He didn’t want Dosu to bleed out and die after they left.

“Okay,” he murmured, and Sasuke went into a crouch, formed the _tiger_ seal again. This time he blew gently, and a small flame licked at the skin, made it sizzle and cook until blood stopped leaking out of it, leaving only the awful smell.

(Naruto didn’t think he would eat barbeque again for a long time, after this. Maybe ever.)

He stared at it for a long time after Sasuke finished, thinking _at least it matched with the girl_ before he glanced behind him, at Zaku. He was awake, unlike the others, though that was a _barely_ , eyes low and breath shallow through a broken nose and what Naruto thought were probably cracked ribs. Purple and red were blooming over what skin of his was exposed. It looked painful, horrible. Naruto hated looking at it.

Sasuke asked, “Where’s your scroll?”

Zaku’s eyes widened, and he blinked, took in a deeper breath before trying, “D-Do—” but cut off with a cough, crackling through his damaged trachea.

Naruto heard Sasuke move, and a moment later he was nudging the scroll into Naruto’s hand. “We should go,” he said, and Naruto nodded, looked over to Sakura. To Lee, next to her.

“He’ll be fine on his own. He’s barely hurt. I’ll carry her.”

Naruto wanted to object, but the pain in his muscles kept his mouth shut.

He looked around, instead, for their missing clothes. Finally, he spotted most of their things— caught in a bush, somehow— and slipped his shirt back on, groaning with the strain. Sasuke followed him, put his own, while Naruto held his jacket. He still felt so warm, he didn't want to wear it.

Instead, he handed it to Sasuke. "For Sakura," he muttered, gaining a nod in response.

Sasuke, gently, picked Sakura up, wrapped loosly in orange. Maneuvered her across his shoulders in a fireman’s carry while Naruto looked for the only things they were missing.

He had to give up on their hitai-ate, he supposed, looking up at the descending moon. They could get new ones once they got _back_ , got _out_. He didn't know how much time he had lost, but. It had to be at least a day, though, he figured, based on the vague memories of clones he had. They had lingered for a while after he went unconscious (went subconscious?), and it had been later than this when they dispelled. If he was going to get another scroll, there wasn't the time to waste.

Holding Sakura steady with one hand, Sasuke pointed the other North, towards the tower.

Naruto spared the Sound-nin one last glance and followed without a word.

* * *

Hours later, he had to open his mouth, say _something_ to break the monotony of tree after tree after tree.

Plus, the thought had been wracking his brain since they left.

“Uh, Sasuke?”

His eyes flickered to him for only a glance before he hummed in acknowledgement.

“What was with the whole, uh… The whole. Black marks, covering your body, crazy strength, crazy. Everything. Thing.”

There was a pause, before, “The woman that attacked us before, was. They were Orochimaru. They… did _something_ , to me. I'm not sure what. We can ask Kakashi about it when we get _out_.”

“Oh.” He felt like he was missing something there, but he didn’t press, just accepted it. So, the snake woman was— someone else? Someone important? And, more than that, "Are we— does that mean we're looking for another scroll, then, or not?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, frowning. "...We can decide that when Sakura wakes up."

Naruto nodded, forgetting Sasuke wasn't looking.

“So. What was with. The whole.” Sasuke coughed. “Crazy, claws, rage, red eyes— that.”

Right. _Sasuke_ couldn't hear Kurama. He had no clue why Naruto had been like _that_. “Remember that voice I told you about? After the whole. Bridge thing?"

"Yes."

"That was… that. It's— I— I'm not really sure. But he. Let me do that. The, uh. Voice.” He didn't know what else to say.

Something in his gut didn't want to say more, about Kurama. He could explain more later, anyway, after he sorted it out for himself.

Changing the subject, Naruto said, "I'm gonna, uh, send a clone out in front, okay? Just to make sure."

“Okay,” Sasuke said, and silence fell over them once more.

* * *

“Wait, I had _red eyes?_ That’s _so_ sick— Sasuke, we totally _match_ now—”

“Shut up, idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kurama? not exactly the most benevolent of gods, to say the least  
> this took about 30 revisions lol hope yall like it!! <3 tysm for the comments and kudos so far ya'll are so sweet ;^;  
> if you want to yell about this fic (or anything naruto,,,, or anything at all lol) click [here](https://discord.gg/4jp2mfN) to go to my fresh new discord server! :))) i'll give progress updates there, if you want to follow rf3's development!


	8. venom without antidote

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [In which Sasuke thinks and he doesn't.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Alternatively: In which Team 7 finishes the second Exam.]
> 
> hi! it's been a bit, but there was so much i wanted to do with this chapter that i couldn't decide on where to go with it until now. hope yall enjoy! :)

Sasuke used to enjoy the quiet of nightfall.

When he was very young— _before_ — his mother would take him out on the well-worn paths through the Uchiha training grounds, after the sun began to set. They didn’t talk much, those nights, letting the calm that settled into the woods work through them like waters of a hot spring.

Now, though, the low chatter of the Forest of Death only made room for his thoughts and his nerves.

 _—Sakura, Naruto, Lee—_ _like his mother, his father, his cousins and his clan and—_

And he needed to _focus,_ but—

_—Naruto’s hands, covered in blood— his brother, drenched in it—_

—Sasuke let out a breath, and with it, exhaled the fog set in his mind.

He couldn’t let himself think about it.

So much had happened during Team 7’s time in the forest, and he couldn’t _think_ about it because he had to focus on getting _out,_ getting _away._ He couldn’t think about it because if he did, that meant he wasn’t watching out for anything that could do more damage than was already done.

He couldn’t let his team— his _family—_ down _again._ It just wasn’t an option.

And Sasuke _had_ to _focus_. His eyes were too fatigued to activate the Sharingan, and their silence forced him to scan the woods with all his attention. Forced him to ignore everything he needed to sort out, after the Exam was done and over with.

(It _let_ him ignore the things he _didn’t_ want to sort out, too. Things he wanted to forget about and move on from. Things he wouldn’t think about because he was _busy._ )

The Exam was an issue of its own, though. He didn’t want to take any chances with Orochimaru, with _whatever_ they had done to Sasuke threatening to eat away at the tangled threads of sanity he held onto. Before he woke up, he had heard— had _felt—_

(With the Sharingan finally asleep, his brother’s voice lacked a certain bite. Didn’t push him, like it did before, when he had woken up and seen—

 _Not now. Focus on the trees._ )

But he also didn’t want to _fail._ And, if Orochimaru had really given him some kind of seal, one that gave him… whatever power it gave. He didn’t know how to explain the feeling, even to himself. It was. Some kind of pure _chakra,_ maybe, that was forced down through the mark he now bore, and—

It didn’t matter, now.

_“You’ll seek out my power, after what's to be done is done.”_

Sasuke didn't know what they meant, exactly, but he knew that he needed to _prepare._ Needed to be ready for whatever the Sannin was planning to do.

That was for after they got  _out,_ though. For now, he needed to focus on that and that alone.

There was a persistent, painful _burn_ to his skin where Sakura’s shoulder layered his own, despite the thick buffer of Naruto’s jacket. It was… grounding, in a way. Forced him into the tangible world.

The final decision on _completing_ the Exam rested with her, he decided. Naruto was clearly all for continuing, but neither of them knew as much as she did. She was the only one awake when the Sound team attacked, after all.

Sasuke needed to know what had happened. Nearly shook with coiled anticipation, growing by the minute.

She had grown heavy, by now, fatigue massaged well into his muscles, but he ignored it.

One glance at Naruto had Sasuke taking in a quiet breath. Naruto looked— half dead, honestly, splattered and stained with blood, the weight of exhaustion set into his silhouette.

It was strange, seeing him tired.

(Sea eyes— _red_ eyes—)

And yet, neither of them asked to slow down. Neither of them would rest until the other did, so neither of them would rest. They had too much pride between them.

Sakura shifted, and Sasuke had to stop, re-balance her. Something in that felt like a concession.

Naruto followed, halting at his side. With a soft voice he asked, “Do you think we should wake her up?”

It was as close to a request as they'd get, and Sasuke hummed in response, thinking back to the ache growing in the line of his shoulders. He _did_ want her awake, becuase. "She might have answers."

He slipped Sakura to the ground, then, setting her carefully against a tree that he leaned up against.

(There was something familiar, there, but he couldn’t place it.)

Naruto didn’t need any more prompting, sat down in front of Sakura, shifting to his knees to shake her lightly. “Hey, sleepy-head. C’mon. Get _up_ already. I wanna know what happened when I was out.”

She didn’t rouse, and Naruto shook her harder. “Sakura, come _on._ Do you _know_ how much I want to ask you about your dumb haircut, right now? You can't answer me while you’re _asleep._ ”

Sasuke huffed, quietly, amused at the display. “She’s not going to wake up just because you’re making fun of her, Naruto.”

“Oh yeah?” He turned, smirking, before doubling down on his efforts. “Come on, forehead. What does Ino always call you? Billboard head or something? If you don’t wake up soon, I bet- I bet she’ll come and swoop Sasuke off his feet—”

“ _Brow._ Billboard  _brow._ ”

“Yeah, _brow._ Wait, how do _you_ know that?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto’s wide ones. “They nearly shadowed me at the Academy, remember? I heard them fighting over me all the time.”

“Is that why you didn’t like Sakura, at the beginning?”

He shrugged. That certainly didn’t _help,_ but there was more to it than that.

Things like her comment about Naruto’s lack of parents had always done more damage that her idolizing. She had been so _sheltered_ , so _stupid_ — Sasuke had been disgusted with what she represented for a long while. Looked at her and saw his _fangirls,_  and on top of that the _village_ that didn’t _understand,_ could never understand.

But she had come far, in a short while, after their conversation. Had thrust herself into making up for it by reading about Naruto’s heritage, Sasuke figured. Hadn’t said something so— incredibly wrong, like that, since.

He respected that. Respected _her._

Sakura moved a bit, and both he and Naruto watched her as she opened her eyes, pupils darting around for a second before she understood what was going on.

“See, I _told_ you it would work,” Naruto said, and Sasuke just sighed.

“She probably just heard the sound of my voice.”

“Yeah _right,_ ” Naruto laughed, then froze, and then _gasped._ “Wait, did you just— was that a _joke?_ You know what those _are?_ ”

“Don’t look so _surprised._ I’ve made jokes before.”

Then again, he wasn’t laughing that much, these days.

(These days being the past five or six years.)

“Well, _yeah,_ but not _funny_ ones.”

“Not to interrupt,” Sakura said, “but, what _happened?_ ”

Naruto huffed. “That’s what _I_ was asking _you_.”

Sakura narrowed her eyes, and Naruto narrowed his right back. It was tempting to laugh, with how her hair laid, all bangs and no back and _terribly_ uneven. One more thing for outside the forest.

“We woke up during the fight,” Sasuke supplied, giving Naruto a glance before adding, “We finished it.” He could elaborate _later_ on what that had involved.

“You _did?_ ”

Naruto nodded, gone quiet. Sasuke could understand why.

Sakura looked between them, gasping quietly when her eyes flickered over the red drying on Naruto’s arms. Finally, she said, “That’s. That’s good, then. Is— is Lee okay?”

“He was when we left,” Sasuke supplied. “I don’t… the Sound-nin were alive, but no longer a threat when we left. He should be fine now.”

“That’s… yeah. Good. Um, where— where _are_ we? How long has it been?”

“Only about an hour or so since we left. We set out towards the tower, haven’t been out for long. Actually, we wanted to ask if we should try for another scroll or not.”

“You... wait, _another?_ ”

“Well.” Sasuke shifted, feeling a distant sense of shame, thinking back to the sticky scroll he had given to Naruto, had pried off of a then-dying boy. “We won, so we took their scroll.”

“Which kind was it?”

Sasuke’s brow furrowed. “Heaven. Why?”

She took in a breath, a slow grin growing on her face. “While you two were out, I— oh, this is _fantastic_ — look what I got!”

Sakura fumbled around, and— there was an _Earth_ scroll, hidden under the shredded edge of her qipao.

 _How_ did she— how could she take on a team on her own?

(How _long_ had they been asleep, for her to get a _scroll?_ )

Sakura seemed to understand his confusion, because she soon added more. “I— there was this girl, Karin, um. And a bear? She got separated from her team, and I saved her while you guys were out. I guess I didn’t really— poor girl probably didn’t know how to throw a kunai. She said… she didn’t want to be here anyway, so. Yeah. It wasn’t really… that impressive—”

Naruto scoffed, finally finding his voice. “What do you _mean,_ not impressive? Sakura, you got a _whole_ _scroll_ by yourself! We’re gonna _ace_ this exam—”

“And we can _leave,_ ” Sasuke added, because that’s what they _needed_ to do. What was a clear priority, now that they had both scrolls.

“About that,” Sakura said. “We, uh. Need to go back?”

“What,” Naruto said, flat.

“See, I, uh— I told her to meet me back there, if she couldn’t find her team. It’ll be the fourth day by sunrise, so—”

“ _Fourth day?_ ” Sasuke said, at the same time as Naruto.

They had been out for over three days?

_How?_

“Yeah, you guys both got, well, _sealed_ by Orochimaru, I think? In different ways, though. I unsealed Naruto, but I didn’t know enough about the one on you, Sasuke. Sorry.”

She undid a seal made by a _Sannin?_

He couldn’t fathom how she was _apologizing_ at a time like this. After all she must have _done,_ keeping them alive for three days in the _Forest of Death_ on her _own._

 _(How far she's come,_ he thought. It left a bitter aftertaste.)

Then Naruto said, “Okay, I, just— who’s Orochimaru, again?” and Sasuke had to keep from groaning. _He doesn’t know?_

Sakura froze. “You don’t— but you—” she shook her head, sighing. “Oh, _whatever._ He’s one of the _Legendary Sannin,_ Naruto. Only one of the most _famous_ Shinobi _alive._ The _only_ person _ever_ to make a contract with the Snake Spirits. He’s an S-rank missing-nin. More than S-rank, even.”

“So. She— uh, he?” Naruto cringed, looking down to the forest floor for a moment. “Was that woman that like, bit us?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke shrugged. “They were.”

Sakura frowned. “ _They?_ Why not _he?_ ”

Oh. He hadn’t realized he had defaulted to that _outside_ of his mind. “It’s... easier. Than switching based on the body they choose to wear.”

“Aren’t they always still— well, I guess. _Hmm._ I wonder what he— they— use?” Sakura looked down to her hands, then, and they all grew quiet, remembering who they were talking about. Who they were _speculating_ about, as if they would ever get an answer.

“Anyway,” she continued, quieter this time, “we need to go back, because I promised Karin I’d meet her there today if she couldn’t find her team. We already have both scrolls, so. It should be okay to use a little time, right?”

Naruto made a noise, and Sakura glared. “Don’t be such a baby about it. I made a promise, okay? She seemed really sweet, and she _gave_ me her _scroll._ The least I can do is help her out of the Forest if she needs it.”

 _The least she can do?_ The least _Sasuke_ could think of would be _leaving_ her. She was lucky she got off without a fight, unlike— unlike the _Sound-nin_.

“Well, what if she comes back with _her team_ , huh?” Naruto said, glaring right back.

Sakura rolled her eyes. “We can _take_ them, then. We’ve already faced _Orochimaru_ and lived, haven't we? If you guys could take on the Sound team— they were Orochimaru’s, I think— one little genin team won’t stop us.”

“That doesn’t mean we _should—_ ”

“What, are you _scared_ or something? We’ll be _fine_ —” 

“I don’t _care!_ ”

Sakura’s shoulder’s jumped up, and Naruto gave a frustrated sigh that sounded half like a snarl.

 _—Naruto, snarling,_ **_“Shut up!”_ ** _in that voice that wasn’t his—_

_—Naruto, crying, “I’m— sorry,” moments later—_

Sasuke understood, then, why he might not want to turn back.

(They really _shouldn’t,_ anyway.)

But Sakura had her promise, and those kinds of things _mattered,_ so he said, “Why don’t you send a clone back instead? It’d be safer.”

“I— a _shadow_ clone? I… I guess. I’ve only made them during training, but—”

Naruto leaned towards her, hands pressed hard into his thighs. “But it would work, right?”

She gave him a long, searching look, eyes flickering around before something settled into her face. “It would,” she said, and it was _determination_ in her eye when she stood up, brushed off her pants, and said, “Walk me through it, Naruto?”

And he did— showed her the motion of the seal that she already knew, talked her through sectioning off chakra like she didn’t have the best control on the team.

It was more for _him_ than for _her,_ after all.

(Sasuke wondered how he ever thought she could be replacable on this team.)

* * *

Sakura didn’t need her clone after all.

Morning continued to approach, and Sasuke continued to watch the sun crawl higher, half-listening to the chatter between Naruto and Sakura. He didn’t like having a moment to _breath—_ they weren’t going any further and they weren’t turning back, and he itched for a distraction other than the perimeter.

But the only one he had was his team, and they were talking about _after_ and he couldn’t— couldn’t think about it, right now, so he watched and watched instead.

(Watched Sakura’s fingers wash over her bits of exposed scalp, watched Naruto pick at the caked blood under his nails with a kunai's point. Watched behind them more than anything else, just to make _sure._ )

He still heard bits of their argument, despite himself.

“Uh, I don’t know if I should  _trust_ you with that—”

“It’ll be  _fine,_ I cut my own hair all the time!”

“Your hair doesn’t need to be as  _even_ as mine does!”

“So what! It’s not like I can mess it up any  _more—_ ”

“I thought you said it looked  _nice!_ ”

“Well, not  _yet!_ ”

When he caught a shock of red through the treeline, Sasuke felt his eyes shift into the Sharingan on impulse. “Sakura—” he started, and it morphed into a warning halfway through the word because _whatever,_ no, _whoever_ was there had a chakra signature that could _not_ belong to an untrained shinobi. It was _dangerous,_ especially given everything they had already been though.

Sakura was already getting up and calling out before he could say more.

“Karin?”

The movement stopped, and a long silence stretched before there was a timid, “…Sakura? Is that you?”

“Karin! Don’t worry, this is my team!” She took a step forward, but Sasuke held out a hand.

“Wait,” he warned, looking deeper into the trees. “Are you _sure_ this is her?” Her chakra didn’t _look_ like someone who was helpless. It reminded him more of Naruto’s chakra, albeit not nearly as vast. Just… there was so _much_ of it.

Soon, a small girl walked forward, and Sasuke let his eyes return to normal.

 _Oh._ That made sense.

That was just… _Uzumaki_ chakra that he saw, wasn’t it? This girl _had_ to be one, with hair like that. Only their clan had hair like that— well, Sasuke wasn’t sure about _now,_ but that was. What his mother had told him, when she had shown him pictures of her childhood friends.

_“Look here, Sasuke. This is Uzumaki Kushina. She was… she reminded me of the little sister I never had, in some ways. I always wanted to have at least two, so my children could have—”_

No use thinking of that right now.

He wondered why Sakura didn’t say anything. If she even _knew._ She had researched them, true, but not many cared about the politics of dead clans outside of the Uchiha.

Come to think of it… why didn’t _Naruto_ have his clan’s hair?

(Sasuke didn’t like the image. Red wasn’t his color.)

“Yeah, that’s Karin,” Sakura said, walking up to her. “These are my teammates, Naruto and Sasuke.”

Naruto gave a bright smile, and Karin half-heartedly returned it, albeit half-hidden behind her hair.

There was a resemblance, there, that Sasuke could pinpoint if he knew where to look. Similar smiles, similar mouths— and she had red flaking off of her arms, now, too, thin genin chainmail doing nothing for her exposed skin.

There was something _else,_ too, but he didn’t know what it was— nothing that connected to Naruto, certainly, in her shyness. But he recognized it nonetheless.

Sakura continued, “So, how did you find us? I thought—”

“I, um,” Karin started, looking down. “I was just… on my way back to where we met, when I thought I heard… um. My team— they. They— I- I couldn’t… they didn’t…”

Sakura sombered, then. “ _Oh._ Karin, I’m so _sorry._ ”

“It’s… it’s okay.” She bit her lip, and— that’s what it was.

 _She’s like a young Sakura,_ he realized. _No wonder she wants to help her._

“Well, we can help you get out of the forest, then, like I promised. Right, guys?” Sakura gave a pleading look, and Sasuke coughed out a quiet, “Right.”

The sooner they started moving, the sooner he'd get  _out_.

Naruto had a fierce set to his face as he said, “Of _course_ we’ll help you, Karin. You’ll be safe with us, okay? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

How _ignornant._ Sasuke hated him for his heart, sometimes. As if they would be  _safe_ anywhere in this damned forest.

“O- okay,” Karin sniffed. “I just— can- can you. Can we get out of here? I just… I want to leave.”

Sakura gave her a small pat on the shoulder, failing to see Karin’s short shudder in response. “Of course. We’ll keep you safe, like Naruto said. Just follow our lead. Sasuke will take the front, and we’ll be in the middle, alright? Naruto can keep enough eyes on the back.”

 _She really_ **_is_ ** _a rival to Ino, now,_ Sasuke thought, eyes shifting back to the Sharingan as he—

 _“I expected more of a challenge out of you,”_ Orochimaru said, over and over and—

He choked, the mark on his neck flaring to life. It was over in an instant, but the sudden sense of _hurt_ was hard to shake.

No one seemed to notice, so he soon gestured towards the tower, watching Karin gasp at Naruto’s few shadow clones as they dispersed into the trees, watching from all sides.

“Alright,” Sakura said, getting a kunai out. “Karin, are you comfortable with tree-hopping, or should we stay on foot?”

“Um. I can… the trees sound safer.”

“Alright. We can keep near the river, then, as long as we’re hidden. Tell us if we’re going to fast, okay?”

Karin nodded, and Sasuke didn’t waste time. The next moment, he was in the treetops, confident his team would soon follow.

They did.

* * *

It was inevitable that they ran into another team.

In retrospect, Sasuke was surprised it took so long— they had reached where the trees grew sparse around the fattened riverbed seating the tower. They were _so_ close, close enough to make Sasuke impatient, itching to pick up the pace and get this stupid exam done and _over_ with.

But even if Sakura could now keep up with an increase in pace, that girl— Karin— could not.

Sasuke was beginning to wish they had left her behind, if only to already be _out._

They had been near silent for around an hour, stealth the priority, and in the end _Karin_ was the one to break it, muttering, “S-Sakura—” and only a second later followed Naruto’s hushed bark of, “ _S_ _top, stop!_ ”

Sasuke grabbed the next branch to keep himself from flying forward, eyes filtering through thick trunks to try and see who was there.

“What is it?” Sakura whispered, and Naruto shushed her, pointing straight out to where Sasuke finally _saw_ the three dots of chakra that were far away, but not far enough. Following a bundle of chakra that was clearly one of Naruto’s shadow clones, the specific mix of unique chakra and unique technique creating a distinct signature that Sasuke remembered, easily.

(Would probably never forget. Probably couldn’t even if he tried.)

He turned back to see Sakura’s hands form into— _not_ seals. He hadn’t seen her use sign language since the Academy, but there she was, hands whirling into, _‘Can you sign?’_

Despite his scrunched expression, Naruto signed back, _‘Yes. Some.’_

_‘Explain.’_

_‘Three. Fast. Following,’_ and he let out a clipped huff as he visibly struggled with forming the next word. _‘Bodies. No— following body jutsu.’_

 _‘Shadow clones?’_ Sasuke supplied, mouthing the words as he formed them with his hands and earning a quick scowl in return. He eyed Karin, then, hoping to get his point across.

Her hitai-ate was etched with Kusa’s emblem, true, but Konoha sign was still unique to _Konoha_. She needed to know _everything_ if she was going to have any shot at keeping up, not just what she could make out from the similarities between her village’s language and their’s.

Her open-mouthed expression made her confusion all the more clear.

 _‘Yes,’_ Naruto formed, with a bit too much force, but he (thankfully) started mouthing, adding in the words he didn’t know the signs for. _‘They don’t know that the clones are shadow clones yet. Do we fight them?’_

 _‘No,’_ Sasuke signed. _‘We need to get to the tower. It’s too close to risk another fight. Lead them away instead.’_

Naruto just mouthed _fine_ in return, turned away to return to his position behind everyone else, and— Sasuke didn’t _need_ to, but he grabbed Naruto’s bicep on an impulse and mouthed back _take head_.

It was probably for the best— Naruto would know where his clones were, he could lead them just as well as Sasuke, if not better. Putting him in front was _efficient._ It would get them out faster.

 _That’s not why you did it,_ his mind taunted back. _You know the_ reason.

(Red eyes—  _Sea_ eyes—)

Naruto struggled to mouth _okay_ around his smile, and when he shot off forward, Sasuke had to hold himself back from immediately following, waiting for the other two to pass him.

(He ignored Sakura’s _knowing_ look. Ignored the way her eyes scanned the heating expanse of his face. Ignored her stifled snort, too, as she matched Naruto’s movements.)

Now, spurred on by an immediate threat, Team 7 worked like an oil-slicked machine. Naruto was fast, but never too much— he wove through a complex path that Sakura signed back to Sasuke, quick flashes of _‘Sharp left’_ or _‘Weak branch’_ that let him divert his attention to the enemy team. They more they strayed farther away, the more he let his mind shift to the doors of the tower.

They were so close Sasuke could _taste_ it, pushing himself to go _faster,_ formation be damned when it was _right_ there. He felt something strange for just a second— a rush of strength, of speed, and then—

A shock of _pain pain pain_ down his neck, down his side, and he almost lost his balance, falling behind by a few steps.

Why, why,  _why_ did Orochimaru’s mark hurt _now?_ It didn’t make sense, when it had _helped_ him before. But it had hurt, then, too, had hurt from the moment he woke up.

 _I need to get this unsealed,_ he thought, at the same moment knowing he _couldn’t._

(Not if his team was getting stronger, too. Not if they were pulling ahead and he was falling behind.

Sasuke wouldn’t let himself become the weakest link. Not when he had a _goal_ as lofty as matching _Itachi._ )

The tower was _just_ a few paces away when he finally righted himself— once they made it to the plank walkway in front of their gate, they would be out of bounds, _free_ from this challenge, free to go to anyone that could fix what had _happened_ in _some_ way, in _any_ way—

Naruto charged through the doors without stopping, and Sakura was hot on his heels, Karin doing her best to keep up.

He didn’t bother bringing up that she _should_ go to the one labeled for _her_ gate. It wasn’t like she was going to pass, anyway.

Sasuke couldn’t ignore the _relief_ he felt when his sandals landed and made a hollow _thud_ , signifying their safety. He pushed himself through the doorway, made it inside, and _finally_ he let himself sag back against the heavy wood behind him. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, heart pounding with exertion and anxiety.

Naruto said something, but he felt a jolt of pain and didn’t catch the words, going stiff.

Sasuke let himself breathe, looking up at the wall in front of them, watching Sakura decipher whatever it was with ease. It was hard to focus on what she was doing, and he wanted to swear, the wave of nausea brought on by the sharp ache too relentless.

“I— I’m not _sure,_ but I think they want us to open the scrolls? They must have something written or sealed inside— Oh, if they’re a _seal—_ ”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s _do_ it then, Sakura, come _on_ —” Naruto got his scroll out, but Sasuke couldn’t watch anymore, closing his eyes to focus on breathing _in, out_ as he tried to keep standing.

“Are you okay?” Karin said, voice small but clear and so much closer than he realized. She had her hands fisted in front of her, holding tight onto the ends of her sleeves.

He tried to nod, but the action made his head swim, and he slipped slowly to the ground, trying and failing to keep his breaths from becoming ragged.

“Oh— oh _no,_ um— uh, Sakura? _Sakura?_ ”

He heard the _puff_ of a shadow clone, but then another wave overcame him, and he stopped _caring_ about what he heard, focused on getting through the feeling that just wouldn’t _end._

Sasuke felt the world become weightless, and before he knew it he was moving— no, being _moved._ His body prickled at the contact, and he was powerless to stop it.

And just as quickly he was placed down on something soft, sitting up, and his head was gently pushed back by something at his lips. He must be hallucinating, now, because it sounded like _Iruka_ who went, “ _Drink,_ Sasuke,” but he listened to it anyway. _Anything_ to feel better, to keep his skin from crawling, his nerves from firing off every second.

What tasted like spice and dirt washed down his throat, but it soothed away the sharp pricks running down his body, dulled them into a manageable, steady ache.

He opened his eyes, then, and it really _was_ Iruka in front of him, looking worried like he always was.

(Never over _Sasuke._ )

“What… _happened,_ to you?”

“I—” Sasuke coughed— “ _Orochimaru._ ” Finally, _finally,_ someone could _help._ “In the _forest._ ”

“What?” Iruka pulled back, eyes wide and searching. “I- I wouldn’t have taken you for a practical joker, Sasuke—”

“Me neither,” Naruto mumbled, while Sakura talked over him with an _appropriate_ urgency.

“ _Iruka-sensei,_ he’s telling the _truth._  We _all_ saw him— he— they _talked_ to me, I know it was them. They summoned _snakes,_ Sensei. It _had_ to be Orochimaru.”

A serious expression of the likes he hadn’t seen clouded over Iruka’s face, then. “You’re _positive_ you saw Orochimaru, Sakura? Sasuke? _Absolutely_ sure?”

Sasuke nodded, horrible, too-clear memories coming back to him in an instant.

_“That brother of yours. I met him once.”_

Remembering their tongue made him want to squirm, and he let Sakura explain instead.

“They put some kind of— _seal,_ on Naruto and Sasuke, and I only undid the one on Naruto and _that’s_ only because I had been reading about them for _weeks_ and- and— oh, Sensei, what do we _do?_ ”

“Slow _down,_ Sakura. I… there was a seal on Naruto, you said?”

“Yes. A five elements one.”

“A… five elements seal? Okay, alright.” He let out a steady breath before continuing. “And… you, a _genin—_ you _unsealed_ that, yourself? Are you _sure?_ ”

“Well, I. _Yeah._ I think I did, anyway. I mean, the seal _broke,_ I thought, and it’s not all that different from healing, um, should- should I _not_ have? Done that?”

Iruka stared for a moment too long before shaking his head. “No, no, that’s, just. Really, _very_ impressive, Sakura. Do you know how _difficult_ that is? How much chakra control that takes?”

She blushed, shrugging. “Kakashi-sensei said that was one of my strong suits.”

“Well, it’s _incredibly_ difficult. I wish I had the time to be proud of you— and ask you about some _other_ things,” he added, glancing at everyone in the room, probably for different reasons. Karin was nowhere to be found _— Iruka must have taken her back to her official room,_ Sasuke figured. “But first, I need you to stay here while I get… someone more qualified.”

“Like Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asked, hands bracing on his hips. “Or the _Hokage?_ ”

Iruka had the same look he did when someone asked a question he needed the textbook to answer, but he nodded nonetheless. “I— Yes, I’ll go get someone. You kids stay right here, okay?”

“We’re not _kids,_ Iruka-sensei,” Sakura said back, and Naruto followed with, “Why can’t we go _with?_ ”

“Because— this is sensitive information—”

“That we _gave_ you,” Sakura reminded.

“—and because Sasuke needs to be looked at, okay?”

Except Sasuke was _fine,_ now. “I can come with,” he said, standing up and ignoring the aftershocks of pain. “I can get checked out later.”

Iruka gave them a stern look. “ _No._ I had to give you part of a soldier pill, Sasuke—”

So  _that's_ what that taste was. He never wanted to take one again.

“And he’s _fine,_ now!” Naruto yelled. “We can get him checked out _later,_ like he _said._ That _snake_ —” he cut off, eyes wide with an expression Sasuke couldn’t understand, and when he said more he sounded so much smaller, somehow. “We’re coming _with,_ and Sasuke is coming _with_ us.”

Sakura looked unsure, but she gave a sharp nod nonetheless, and Sasuke felt his heart swell with the sentiment of _family._

It was Iruka’s heavy _sigh_ that let Sasuke know they had won. “Kakashi is a bad influence,” he muttered, quiet enough that he probably thought they couldn’t _hear_ (but he guessed he only _could_ because of Kakashi in the _first_ place) before he relaxed and leveled a look at them. “Fine. You may come with. _But—_ you will not tell _anyone_ about this, okay? This is highly classified information starting _now._ Got it?”

They all affirmed _yes_ , and Iruka opened the door, leading Team 7 through the halls of the tower.

It was quiet in a way that made Sasuke uncomfortable. Now inside, their footsteps fell against concrete, not earth— he heard the buzz of electricity, not bugs. There was nothing else for him to focus on but—

_Red eyes, red skin, red chakra—_

_“Scaredy Cat!”_

He looked pointedly at the concrete below, but it was too bland to catch his interest.

_Snap—_

_“I’m sorry.”_

The walls, too smooth, too boring— he  _hated_ them, he missed the forest—

_His clan, his family—_

_“You’ll seek out my power, after what's to be done is done.”_

_Pain, pain, so much—_

“Mitarashi?” Iruka said, and Sasuke didn’t realize they had stopped until he had to catch himself from running straight into Naruto’s back.

What was _wrong_ with him? He needed to get a _grip._

“Can I— oh, I’m just going to come in, this is important enough.” Iruka opened the door, and— alongside their proctor was the _Hokage_.

Iruka startled, but quickly rushed out, “I have something— some of my— _the_ — genin have some information about something that happened in the forest.”

“Oh, what _else?_ ” Mitarashi looked like she was fresh out of a fight, though Sasuke wasn’t sure she didn’t _normally_ look like that, impulsive as she seemed. When she actually turned to face them, however, her mouth dropped a bit.

Sasuke didn’t smirk.

Instead he turned to the Hokage as he spoke, wondering if it was more rude to try and meet his eye or not. He wasn’t— they were never this _close_ to him. He had talked to him in person a few times before, but between their first mission and the day after his clan got... he wasn't used to being in the same space as someone so  _important._

“How convenient,” he said, taking a puff off his pipe. The smoke obscured his face, and Sasuke decided on looking pointedly at _that_ rather than _him._ “We were just talking about you.”

 _Me, or my team?_ he wondered, but he couldn’t find his voice.  _Do they know already? How much?_

“This information… it’s about Orochimaru, yes?”

Iruka stammered, “Yes— how did you— I mean, I don’t mean to _ask_ — Lord Hokage—”

The Hokage held up a hand, and the room stilled. “Iruka, you should know by now how little I care about that sort of thing— but, more important matters are at hand. Anko was just telling me about Orochimaru’s presence in the forest— and it seems one of our _most_ promising teams figured him out, correct?”

“Yeah, we chased them out of the forest,” Naruto said, and though Sasuke wasn’t watching, he could tell from the sound of Naruto’s voice that he was smiling.

 _Cocky,_ he thought, and Sasuke  _didn’t_ smirk.

Sakura’s respect for the truth seemed to overshadow her manners, then, as she said, “ _Idiot,_ that’s _not_ what happened! He nearly _killed_ us!”

“Yeah, yeah, who cares about the details? All I know is I killed one of his gross snakes and if that _bastard_ hadn’t gotten a grip on me with the other one we could have—”

"Language!" Iruka squacked, as Sakura continued, “You _really_ think we could have beat a _Sannin?_ Gods, Naruto, you must _really_ be stupid if you think—”

“Can you two _shut up?_ ” Sasuke ground, whipping around to level a glare at them. “Lord Hokage is _right_ here. We’re supposed to be telling him _what happened,_ not bickering like _children._ ”

Sakura turned beet red at the realisation, but Naruto just crossed his arms, rolled his eyes. “Well, shouldn’t _Sakura_ be telling him, then? She’s the only one who was _awake_ for all of it. You know, I kind of want to hear, _too._ ”

Sasuke nodded in agreement, and Sakura turned nervous in an instant. “I- I, um.”

The Hokage looked _amused_ as he urged, “Come on, now, Sakura. I need to know everything you can tell me. Can you do that?”

She nodded, biting her lip, and it was only when Naruto bumped his shoulder into her, whispered _you can do it,_ that she described the days that the rest of her team had lost.

His flash of _jealousy,_ at everyone and everything, failed to surprise him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> awhgdvf might revise this ending later lol anyway thank you to everyone reading this!! you guys leave such sweet comments and i ;o; thank you,,, <3 <3


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